Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on my Member’s statement to the Minister of Justice. Also, Mr. Speaker, I heard MLA Ramsay talk about the amount of millions of dollars that the Department of Justice expends in terms of housing inmates. I want to ask the Minister of Justice, with the programming, the cost of housing, with the revolving doors within our correctional centres, can the Minister inform the House if his department is looking at more permanent wilderness camps, bush camps that really needs to happen in the Northwest Territories other than spending millions in our facilities with Justice?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. We are always on the lookout for any opportunities that can improve the well-being of our people of the Northwest Territories; that includes the inmates as well. We have initiated the on-the-land program in the Sahtu region. It has been successful to date, but at times it has been difficult finding those inmates within the institution because it would have to be on a volunteer basis. We can’t force them to attend these camps. So those are the areas that we continue to struggle with. It is a real challenging task, but we continue to push with other regions, as well, if they are interested in pursuing an on-the-land program to deal with the inmates, Mr. Speaker. As the Department of Justice, we will continue to work on this area, how to improve the programming. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I think when you look at some of the inmates that are in the facilities, they are getting fat. They have nothing to do. The lack of programs that are in these facilities are not doing them any good. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Minister if he can find any way that could make it easier for these inmates to get on the land and do hard time out there and get some real healing done. The Minister is putting some roadblocks up and I know inmates that do want to go on the land. Can the Minister find a more creative way to get the inmates out on the land?
Mr. Speaker, we are doing that in other parts of the regions as well. There is a work release in place. The South Slave, Mackenzie, there are different programming that individuals go out on the land, and in Fort Smith and different institutions. They take out the inmates to cut wood for the community. Those are the ongoing initiatives that we continue to support so it keeps the members active in their community or in a community. If it happens to be their community, they are contributing to that community as well.
Mr. Speaker, this is a program that we continue to support in the communities. On-the-land program has been, as I stated, very successful in parts of the regions. We continue to deliver in other regions, as well, as much as we can. Mr. Speaker, we have heard from the elders, we have heard from the people that we need to do more on-the-land programs. That is what we are pursuing, Mr. Speaker. Any changes that we need to make to our policies or our programming, then we are open for that as well. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, MLA Ramsay listed off one of the costs to house an inmate. We are paying for it here in society, Mr. Speaker. These inmates at these adult facilities, they have it good. They get their meals wheeled to them. They eat. They get programs there for them. We need to put them out on the land and do hard time. Do the wood cutting, learn this. There is $21 million going into adult facilities, $5 million in the budget for youth facilities, the wilderness camp has $135,000. This Minister says he wants to do it. Let’s put his words to action and say I want to put at least $1 million into these bush camps. Can the Minister tell the House this is what he is going to do and get those inmates out of those facilities, on the land, do some work and that is where they are going to do some healing? Will the Minister do that?
Mr. Speaker, as I stated, this is an area that we need to work together. There are federal laws that we need to work with. They are case by case on an individual basis. Some individuals are federal inmates as well. As I stated, there are at times challenging times trying to find inmates to go out on the land. It is their choice. We can’t force them to go out on the land so we have to follow the judicial system as well. But I am willing to work with the on-the-land program that we internally have and building on the programming that is in place already.
Mr. Speaker, I committed to the Members and also to this House that we need to improve on those programs. We will continue to work towards that as the Department of Justice. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, I went and visited some of the inmates at the centre. They want to go on the land. They said, we want to go. There are programs in there. There are policies in there that prevent them from going on the land. There are roadblocks in that system. Can the Minister go to the facilities, meet with the inmates that want to go? Guys are in there for serious offences. They want to go. They want to go out there. The Minister keeps giving me, well, it’s long and hard too. I don’t take that, Mr. Speaker. I want to see what this department and this government can do. Put the inmates on the land. Tear down that building over there and get them out there. Can the Minister do that?
Mr. Speaker, it is easy to say tear down the building. We currently house over a couple hundred inmates there as well. I can give you an example of how much it costs to deliver a program, on-the-land program versus North Slave Correction as an example. We have $250 per person at the North Slave Correctional Centre. It is going to cost us almost double, $415, out on-the-land program. We as a department pursued it because we felt it would be in the best interest of the communities to host on-the-land program. It does cost us extra dollars, but we believe in it, so that is what we are pursuing, Mr. Speaker. If some of the inmates are high risk, we can’t take them out on the land. There will be escapes and who knows what can happen with the axes and different rifles out there in the bush. Mr. Speaker, we have to work with those inmates. We have to work with corrections and also the community, the operators, on how to best deliver a program. Again, Sahtu region has been successful. We continue to build on the relationship that we have. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
