Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We’ll defer page 395 to the end. Page 396, active position summary, information item. Any questions?
Agreed.
Page 399, community housing services, operations expenditure summary. Any questions?
Agreed.
Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can I ask the Minister for a breakdown of utilities? Is this the total cost that we give to the Housing Corporation or that’s what they collect? Is $26 million what you’ve been talking about?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Stewart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the $26 million is for the utilities we would pay to operate the public housing or the housing stock across the NWT that we own. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Mr. Yakeleya.
That’s a lot of…(inaudible)… Can I ask for a breakdown in regards to what we’re paying for in the Sahtu communities and other communities, a breakdown of the utility costs? Also, the funding we give to the regional corporations, the regional offices, is this money we provide to them being expended through the year? In other words, is this what we’re doing for the communities in the Sahtu? The money is being expended and they are using the money for what it is intended for in the communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We don’t have that level of detail of information handy. We will compile that information and share it with the Members. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On the same note for the comments from… I’m not sure if this is the right area to look at, but looking at the contracts and work, I would really appreciate the staff and the Minister to hear the Northerners and local contractors are doing the work. They are working out of the regional office. We certainly like to see the economy in our communities have a little bit of a reprieve there for our people, so I appreciate whatever they are doing to make it happen. I fully support the Housing Corporation to see that that work gets there. I just wanted to give kudos to the staff and the Minister on that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. I take that as a comment, so I will leave it at that. Committee, we are on page 399, community housing services, operations expenditure summary. Any questions?
Agreed.
Page 400, community housing services, grants, contributions and transfers. Any questions?
Agreed.
Page 403, executive, operations expenditure summary. Any questions?
Agreed.
Thank you. Page 405, finance and infrastructure services, operations expenditure summary. Any questions?
Agreed.
Page 406, finance and infrastructure services, grants, contributions and transfers. Any questions?
Agreed.
Finance and infrastructure services, grants, contributions and transfers. Any questions?
Agreed.
Thank you. Page 409, programs and district operations, operations expenditure summary. Any questions?
Agreed.
Thank you. Page 410, programs and district operations, grants, contributions and transfers. Any questions?
Agreed.
Thank you. Page 411, lease commitments, information item. Any questions?
Agreed.
Committee, if I can get you to turn back to page 395, NWT Housing Corporation, departmental totals. Any questions?
Agreed.
Does committee agree that consideration of the NWT Housing Corporation is completed?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. I would like to thank the Minister, Mr. Stewart and Mr. Anderson for joining us this evening. Could I please get the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the witnesses out of the Chamber. Thank you, committee.
Continuing on, we agreed earlier today to turn our attention to the Department of Justice, page 295 in the main estimates. With that, I will turn it over to the Minister accountable for opening comments, Minister Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to present the 2015-2016 Main Estimates for the Department of Justice. Overall the department’s estimates propose an increase of $3.8 million, or 3.1 percent, over the 2014-2015 estimates.
These estimates represent the work of the department for the administration of a justice system for the Northwest Territories that is open, accessible and responsive to the needs of the people we serve. We are presenting a budget that continues to be prudent and responsible. Accordingly, we are presenting $809,000 in expenditure reductions and reducing $992,000 through sunsetting programs. Revenue increases have been included at 3 percent, or $422,000, mainly due to securities registration fees administered by the legal registries division.
The largest increase in these budget estimates represents just over $3.7 million in forced growth costs. These include collective bargaining and contractual obligations and nondiscretionary contribution increases for judicial and RCMP pensions.
A total of $374,000 has been included for the expansion of the Integrated Case Management Pilot Project into Inuvik to strengthen government services to be more effective for those who are most vulnerable.
In keeping with the Assembly’s priorities, I would like to highlight $872,000 to fully implement the specialized Wellness Court to assist those in our society who come into conflict with the law through mental health or addictions issues. This second year funding continues the work started in the 2014-2015 year.
The department’s French Operating Plan outlines steps necessary to meet our legal responsibilities and improve the French services available to residents of the Northwest Territories, and $772,000 is included in this budget to continue the implementation of that work.
The department will continue to meet the expectations of this Assembly. We will continue our efforts throughout the coming year to support families when they are in conflict or personal crisis. Through this support, families and individuals will be empowered to work towards successful resolutions allowing them to turn their energies to more constructive and healthier alternatives.
We will continue to provide safe and secure custody of offenders and will provide rehabilitation programs that support reintegration back into communities. We will help youth in trouble with the law to make better choices. We will ensure we are able to support government activities by securing a proper base of legislation and regulations to support and build a strong and sustainable territory for the future.
This concludes my opening remarks. I welcome your comments and questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Do you have witnesses you would like to bring into the Chamber?
I do, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort our witnesses into the House today.
Minister Ramsay, would you be kind enough to introduce your witnesses to the House?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It would be my pleasure. To my right is Ms. Sylvia Haener, deputy minister for the Department of Justice; to my left, Ms. Kim Schofield, director of corporate services with the Department of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Ms. Haener, Ms. Schofield, welcome again to the Chamber. It’s nice to see you.
Committee, we are on general comments, Department of Justice. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will have opening comments to the Minister recognizing that this is an operational and maintenance budget. I’m hoping to put another plug in, I know it’s not time for infrastructure but I will still continue with my consistent plea for an RCMP presence more consistently and maybe permanently in the communities without a detachment. For example, Colville Lake. I know the department is working on that with the Fort Good Hope detachment and doing their best to make sure the presence is in Fort Good Hope. I’m going to just remind the Minister that I will continue until our Assembly is completed for ways the department can look at this with their deputies and directors. They have ways to look at it rather than coming back with the response no, we can’t do that, no, we can’t do that. I would like to hear some maybes; maybe we can look at something. That’s more feasible to satisfy the people in Colville Lake. That community now is experiencing the presence of more alcohol abuse and illegal drugs coming into that community. I ask that the staff and the Minister give some consideration for the community of Colville Lake. I know the challenges the Minister has within his department, but perhaps there can be a way. I am looking for some help here.
Now I want to ask the Minister for other ways to look at dealing with justice, especially with inmates who are in our corrections facilities. I did talk earlier to the Minister. There is a lady in San Francisco. Her name is Dr. Mimi Silbert. Mimi Silbert has worked with 16,000 inmates over the past 30 years and she runs a program down in that area. There are no therapists, no professional supports, no guards.
Dr. Silbert has a very impressive record from her research and report. Ninety percent of the inmates that she worked with don’t go back to hard drugs or gangs. A lot of these inmates obtain a high school degree, college degree, a university degree. She has worked with 16,000 inmates. It’s a real unique program. That’s the type of innovation that I’m looking for from this department. It would be wonderful to have her come up and speak to the officials or to community justice like on-the-land programs, community justice, and we can do something. It’s been proven. It’s in a book that I’m reading right now. It talks about Dr. Silbert. It talks about many other people, education with health. The section I’m reading is on justice. She could bring that experience to us, especially in the North here with the Minister.
When you have a record like that, that shows that you don’t need any guards or therapists or professional support, and she has a program that maybe could be used in the Northwest Territories. Why not try something like this maybe in our region where maybe we aren’t getting a very good uptake or there are some reasons that we can’t do justice and healing on the land?
Fort Good Hope has been asking for an on-the-land program. There are barriers. Why don’t we look at this and have Dr. Silbert come to the North and work with us? That type of goal, direction, thinking, that could happen.
I’m making a public plea right now with the Minister in looking at how we work with inmates that shouldn’t be in there. I’m very happy to hear that the Wellness Court is coming into force. We supported it. Thank you to the Minister and the staff to get that all set up, because a lot of people who are in those facilities could maybe benefit from the Wellness Court. I heard that in my region.
The Minister made a statement in the House earlier about illegal bootlegging that’s going on in the communities. That’s a lot of money if you look at $60 for a bottle. How many bottles? Fifty-one bottles on one of his notes there? That’s about $3,000. So when they say they don’t have money, I say no, you have money, it’s there. It’s just that you don’t have money for… Your priorities do not quite all fit in line. There’s something not right here, so we need to change that. I’m looking to see how the Minister is working to increase it and tell people that by these seizures of liquor, it’s quick, easy money, but it’s competition against the government. You need to know that you’re breaking the law. On top of that, you’re contributing constantly to a serious health or danger in the community. We have lots of people in our region and we need to really think about this. It’s more important to get the people to really think about this issue here.
The last point I want to state is the community of law enforcement. Can we look at auxiliary police in our communities for the young people? I know some people in some of my communities had looked at being an RCMP member. It’s volunteering. I don’t know how it will work in the small communities, doing minor law enforcement or tagging along with the Regular Members. It might be something to look at in order to bring some hope to our young people.
We have to do a whole bunch of things because of what we’re experiencing now with the funding with our government, looking at with Justice, the courts, on-the-land programs, a whole wide range of services that the department is providing in our communities. I guess I want to look at that and see if there is any type of possible justice conference that can be looked at in the regions. I would really consider strongly suggesting to the Minister that we invite Dr. Mimi Silbert up and look at this and take advantage of her 30 years of experience working with 16,000 inmates. Ninety percent do not go back to drugs or gangs. A lot of them have college or education degrees. Let’s learn from her experience. Can we use that here in both of our centres here? I would suggest that they have some discussion. I look forward to her maybe coming into our region. We want to do an on-the-land program. We need those types of people.
Thank you to the Minister for the hard work your staff are doing and being open. Thanks to the RCMP members who are working in our small communities. We have to say thank you because we don’t say thank you enough. Sometimes we get on too fast. They have a job to do and it’s our responsibility as public to uphold our bargain here. I want to say that with all the goodness of my heart. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. As agreed upon earlier with convention, we are going to go through three Members’ general comments and then we’ll ask the Minister to reply. With that, I have Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to use the occasion to get an update as to the Aboriginal wellness coordinator that I was asking back in October of last year. As I understand it, at the time this position hadn’t been filled and we were using a person that I thought at one time we were trying to encourage to apply for the job and they were doing it. I would like an update as to where that may be at this particular time with that position. Has it been staffed and when had it been staffed?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Did you want that reply now?
