R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So the youth advisory committee is something that I was hoping to establish early on in the life of this government. That was derailed by COVID. So we have reestablished it or we are in the process of reestablishing it. Hopefully there will be a meeting in this calendar year. And the purpose of this youth advisory committee is so that I can hear directly from youth. I have lots of discussions with staff, I have discussions with members of the general public, with MLAs, but I don't have a lot of discussions with actual students in the actual education system, let...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So once someone is released from a correctional facility, they often have to check in with probation officers, and those probation officers can provide additional support, often things that are maybe not even necessarily in the policy manual. You know, when you're dealing with people in real life situations, you might be providing supports that are outside of what is normally provided. But we don't have, I mean aftercare I guess, in the Northwest Territories for people who are coming out of jail. The move towards the therapeutic model at the South Mackenzie...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So the information is currently not tracked. The coroner's office does ask families for information about ethnicity but not all families provide that information. So it's not a full data set. But I can't commit that the coroner's office to do something, but we can have that discussion and look further into it. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, I give notice that on Wednesday, November 2nd, 2022, I will present Bill 65, Builders Lien Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Department of Justice Corrections Service Annual Report 20212022. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. And as part of the review, there will be discussions with youth. And as I said, we are looking at how we can amend this model going forward. And if there are, you know, recommendations that we do some of the things that the Member is talking about, then we can definitely explore that. However, I don't want to just say youth will have money to pursue different programs because they're students; they don't necessarily have the time; they don't necessarily have the expertise, the connections to, you know, develop and roll out programs. So to just give students money...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So I've had a number of conversations with the Minister of health about this program. Our officials have been meeting with each other, and we both have met with the education bodies. And what the result of all of those meetings are is a review. We've expedited a review of the program. We are looking at making some changes this year to address some of the issues that have been identified and coming up with a new model, hope to be implemented in the upcoming school year. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So as this committee has not even been struck yet, we don't have a process for setting agendas. But I would love to hear from youth and know what they want to talk about. I don't want to tell them what they're going to talk about; I'd like to hear from them. We will be putting forward items obviously, but I would love it if the youth would put forward some agenda items themselves. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So one of the major things that has happened in the past or just over a year I guess a year and two days ago was the new Corrections Act came into force, and that act restructures our correctional system with more of a focus on rehabilitation as opposed to punishment. We are still, you know, in the process of implementing that Act. It has only been a year, and much of that was COVID times so we haven't quite gotten to the point where I think we want to. But there's a recognition that doing the same old thing doesn't work, and so we are trying to move in a direction...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. So obviously the staff are the people who are in direct contact with inmates in correctional facilities and staff are they receive training in applied suicide intervention skills, so the assist training that's been discussed in this House before. They also receive mental health first aid training, and this year they've moved to the mental health first aid northern peoples edition training. The intake process at corrections includes screening for suicide and mental health issues. There are psychologists, counsellors, and traditional counsellors in the correctional...