R.J. Simpson

It's an odd notion to treat addiction as a criminal matter, and so, I'm fully in support of diversion where we can and providing supports where we can. The GNWT has been providing alternatives to the traditional justice system for a number of years. Every year, we contribute $1.8 million to community justice programming which includes formal diversions. We have an annual priority established through a contract with the RCMP to prioritize diversions. A number of the sanctions from the community justice committees include things like counselling, cultural connection, and treatment.

The RCMP, as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have the NWT-specific numbers, but I know that in Canada in 2014 is the most recent information I have. That's from a report prepared by the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research and the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. For every $32 million spent on healthcare, there's about $10 million for healthcare for substance abuse, there's a corresponding $10 million spent on enforcement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. For that level of detail, I would like to ask Ms. Bolstad to respond.

Yes. I do, Madam Chair.

Since the first report in 2010, the department has taken a number of steps to make good on the Education Act's requirement to provide equitable access. I just want to comment on something the Member said earlier, that the department is "passing the buck" to the education authorities in terms of the failure of small communities in terms of education. I've been here five years, and I've never heard any Minister pass the buck. The previous Minister before me, I heard her state that we are failing students in small communities. The day I became Minister, that became my failure, so I'm not passing...

I want to thank the Member for highlighting the positive contributions of the RCMP. I've stated before in the House that they don't do the kind of self-promotion that, perhaps, they could to get those accolades.

The NWT does have the highest concentration of RCMP officers in Canada. We have 416 per 100,000 people. The next highest is Nunavut with 354 per 100,000. We are staffed quite well with RCMP. In terms of the training, there's a significant amount of mandatory training that RCMP have, and in order to support that and support increased training because there's always new training every...

The Member is correct. She received bureaucratic responses from me, which are not common. Those are usually the ones that are sent back, but when they are answers to HR issues, I'm going to send a bureaucratic response. I don't want to get into the specifics of HR issues. That's not a Minister's role. That being said, there are times when HR issues can indicate a larger pattern, and that's when we do have to pay attention. I have read every document that the Member has shared with me from her constituents, and I am using that to help inform my understanding of the justice system.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier, in the Member's statement, she referenced comments by the Prime Minister about systemic racism, by the AFN National Chief about systemic racism, and she could have referenced the MLA for Hay River North's comments at the Black Lives Matter rally at Hay River recently because, in every western institution, there is systemic racism. There is no getting around it, and anyone who disagrees I think is willfully blind. That said, it's how we deal with it. The North, I think we do a better job than other places, but these are systems that were created in a colonial...

I can't provide a breakout. Drug enforcement is so intertwined with everything that the justice system does, whether it's an RCMP doing a drug seizure, whether it's a court hearing, a case, or whether it's someone in the prison system. It's not possible without a significant amount of time and effort to really parse that. I will go back to the department and see if we can get some more precise information, understanding that it would be impossible to get the exact numbers that you're looking for.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the Northwest Territories, there are 225 RCMP positions and 42 public servants who serve the NWT as part of the territorial police service agreement and First Nations policing agreement. In addition, there are 13 federal policing positions. Specifically in Hay River, there are 16 regular members, including 12 constables, who we would see out on patrol, and three public servants. This includes two additional members who are included in the 2018-2019 budget.

To the Member's point about the resources in Hay River, I know that over the past few years there have been...