Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I take exception with the last comment provided by the Minister. We only have one treatment centre, but the problem where I take exception with that is it’s not focused on detox or multi-problems when it comes to alcohol or drugs such as crack and meth. My fear, and the fear of many people, is has this government given up on people with addictions. Will this government finally take a clear stance, draw up a plan and build or even lease a detox centre to treat the people of the Northwest Territories who suffer from addictions? Thank you.

I appreciate the Minister’s platitudes about trying to be heroic on a territorial level. I am sorry. Can someone give him a flag of the territory? On one hand he is interested in spending money in a prudent way, but there is no way of saying that we are. Why would we keep a facility open for one inmate? That is kind of the point, which is it doesn’t make an economic sense. There has to be a breakeven point that makes sense, and let politicians make the political decisions as to where it is. Ultimately the issue comes down to if the politicians don’t have the facts it is difficult for us to...

Thank you. I appreciate the answer from the Minister on prevention and I wholeheartedly agree from the approach of upstream. It’s better than being downstream without the paddles. On this particular problem, though, it almost sounds like they’ve abandoned the people with this particular issue. It’s great to provide prevention for those to keep them away from drugs such as crack or meth, and hopefully it will keep them away from alcohol abuse, but the territory really needs a detox centre to focus in on how to address these issues, and in the past they’ve used Stanton, which is not an...

Well, I’ll ask it this way: Is there anything to prohibit the Department of Justice from providing an alternative solution such as a southern institution if it was seen as that was considered a relevant option to send an inmate to? Is there anything to prohibit that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk about addictions. Last month when Members set our collective priorities for the 17th Legislative Assembly, we included enhancing our addictions treatment programs, and for good reason. If we could only solve some of the problems of addictions with some action, by taking action, so many other issues would become less of a problem than what we have here before us today. We would have less crime, less violence, fewer people on income support. We would have healthier families, fewer babies born who are sick, who are with illnesses, better...

It does in this particular case, not realizing they were in a mixed situation. Then it would go to the point of does the department provide an evaluation of where becomes the breakeven point where we choose to house our own inmates at a significant cost or can we consider sending them to another particular facility, if need be, outside the territory and we pay that direct cost. In some cases it may be cheaper for us to pay – by way of a simple example, if I may – $120,000 to house an inmate in Alberta where it costs us $3 million to keep the facility open for that one inmate per year. The...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had heard the same words spoken in the House yesterday and it, too, did draw my attention to the concern of using the phrase “crimes against humanity.” At the time I actually reached for my trusty green book of Beauchesne’s Rules of Order to think is this proper language in this type of conduct.

I think Mrs. Groenewegen described the circumstances quite right: The everyday person would define crimes against humanity in the context of genocide and other types of horrific crimes that have happened in places like Rwanda that are terribly shameful and are a stain on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister said they had reviewed. Now he says they’re reviewing. I’d like to be clear on the record. Are they reviewing it at this particular time and are they taking the example I provided to the House as consideration for this review?

The Minister failed to recognize the fact this issue isn’t before the courts at all in any manner. The Minister further failed to recognize that this was a particular issue that he thought was fraught with problems. All I’m asking the House here today is: Would the Minister be willing to take a look at this particular issue, ask someone within the department to take a look at this particular situation to see if changes and adjustments need to be made if an EPO was issued in error due to false information? The burden of the removal of the EPO falls on the person it’s issued against. It does...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to talk about emergency protection orders and the concerns that have arisen out of that.

The Protection Against Family Violence Act has been in force for about six years now, and I have no doubt that the emergency protection orders that have been issued have been instrumental in preventing violence against many people such as women and children. However, recent events have certainly highlighted potential abuse in this process and it has created terrible consequences that we have seen. The act does not provide relief for people who have been subjected...