R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if you pay attention to the news, it seems like major drug busts have become common place in the NWT. Despite the hard work of the RCMP, the market here is so robust that there appears to be no shortage of money to be made. In addition to the social problems that the drug trade brings, it also brings a lot of Southerners, many of whom have ties to gangs and organized crime. What happens to these people? When they are arrested, they are put into the North Slave Correctional Complex in remand along with the general population. What I am concerned about is...

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Minister's Statement 1-18(3), North Slave Correctional Complex Inmate Concerns; Minister's Statement 19-18(3), Aurora College Foundational Review Process; and Tabled Document 63-18(3), Main Estimates 2018-2019. I would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

I will now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Beaulieu.

I guess when they are identified as having gang affiliation in remand, are they separated from the general population, or are they left with people who are in there, maybe just because they have addiction issues?

Maybe I will look for some more details in a minute, but I'd like to know: does the department do anything to basically get the gang members out of the territory? Maybe send them back to their home jurisdiction, or to a correctional facility that might be better able to handle them?

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. There is a motion to report progress. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

I will rise and report progress.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am interested in this topic because I think we are at a point where we can stop this from getting worse like we have seen elsewhere. I would ask the Minister: would he be able to share the department's policy with me so I can have a look at what they are doing to deal with this gang issue? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. There is a motion to defer. The motion is being distributed. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour. All those opposed.

---Carried

The motion is carried. We will defer consideration of the detail, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. My apologies. Correction. That was a motion to defer the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, and it passed, so we will defer consideration of the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs. I want to thank the witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, you may escort the witnesses from the Chamber.

Wha...

Thank you, Ms. Green. Next, we have Mr. O'Reilly.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Further general comments on this department? Seeing none, I will allow the Premier to respond if he wishes. He has 10 minutes. Premier McLeod, if you do wish to respond, I will indicate by holding up my sign when you have one minute left. Premier.