Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Justice adjust the action plan to focus on procedural changes that will enable more effective implementation of existing directives, standing orders and policies rather than the review and revision of these rules, which may take place over the longer term. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The motion is in order. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a brief comment here. The action plan from the Department of Justice had, I think, 100-plus items in it and many of them are scheduled to be finished by November of 2015. Many of those, as well, were looking at reviewing and revision of their policies and procedures and directives.
Committee felt that basically the department, at this point, has in place standing orders, directives, policies, everything they need in order for corrections to adequately function and we felt that there needed to be a greater emphasis on doing what their standing orders or directives or policies say, as opposed to reviewing and revising them. The review and the revision should happen but it will take longer. We felt it more important that the department put what they already have in place and monitor it, rather than they start the review and the revision right away.
So, what this motion is trying to say is monitor what you’ve got in place and make sure that it’s happening and then once that is done and you know that things are being monitored and things are being followed, rules are being followed, then look at reviewing and revising them. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. Motion is carried.
---Carried
Next I’ll go to Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Justice include the performance measures from Auditor General’s report in future reports on the department’s progress in implementing the Auditor General’s recommendations and in future departmental business plans. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This motion is somewhat self-explanatory, but to put it into context, as well, committee, not that long ago, and Regular Members, as well, went through a business planning process to which all departments bring forward performance indicators, I guess compass waypoints, dashboard indicators that show the performance of their departments. In this case here, this would have been the corrections services. I would assume that, and from our review, a lot of these indicators…and there wasn’t a lot of them, was probably the question. So, we’re hoping that through the process of the Auditor General’s review as well as committee review, that the department undertake a review and implement a much better monitoring system with these dashboard indicators and include them in upcoming business plans.
Again, the question is that if they were done properly, these issues that were noted in the Auditor General’s report should have been picked up by the department and executive much sooner than it did. So, I think committee feels pretty strongly about this motion. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. Motion is carried.
---Carried
Go to Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Justice provide a status report to Standing Committee on Government Operations at least once before the end of the 17th Assembly, and further recommends that the status report be provided annually during the 18th Assembly, outlining actions taken in response to the Auditor General’s report. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. Motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Justice take immediate steps to ensure that all inmates undergo case management assessments regardless of the length of their sentences. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Dolynny
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The purpose of this motion is probably twofold. One, the Auditor General definitely recognized the fact that those inmates of less than 120 days receive very little programming or enhancements to their stay in our care. Even through dialogue with the department, there was a direction and even a response that the department was going to look at lowering that 120-day review, observation, to a 90-day process.
Committee felt very strongly, and I believe so did the Auditor General’s staff, that there should be no time limit based on your stay. If you are an inmate within our correctional service, that every and all inmates, as the motion says, undergo case management assessments.
There’s definitely a system problem there. There’s a software problem, and we’re hoping that by this motion this gives clear direction to the department and its Minister that this has to be fixed sooner than later. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. Motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Justice find innovative ways to increase inmates’ access to rehabilitation programs and to ensure that all inmates have access to the programs they most need to meet the rehabilitation goals. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think it all begins right on the onset of when an inmate comes to the institution system and developing that case management assessment. But, more importantly, the case management plan, not having those in place doesn’t help the inmate look at what programs will benefit him the most, and being institutionalized for a certain amount of time, it’s the perfect opportunity to get some of those who are of the highest needs, whether they’re mental health issues or alcohol and drug related, to get them to the right and proper rehabilitation programs or any programs that can help them get reintegrated into their communities or back into society as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. Motion is carried.
---Carried
Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Justice develop better plans for inmate release and reintegration, including examining the merits of having a dedicated reintegration coordinator. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Motion is in order. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is an area where committee felt strongly that the department was falling down as well. When inmates come in, they need to be assessed. They then need the programming that will assist them in getting better, to try and solve the problem of why they’re in there in the first place. But when they are released, they need to have supports so that don’t re-offend and end up back in correctional facilities.
So, this motion tries to highlight the fact that there is very little planning for inmate release and reintegration back into their community and it is important enough to the committee that we want to tell the department to put a much larger focus on inmate release and reintegration and we are suggesting that they look at having a dedicated staff person who does nothing but coordination for reintegration of inmates on their release. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. Motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Justice develop the processes and safeguards necessary to ensure that staff are knowledgeable about the rules they are required to enforce and that they have the training necessary to do their jobs effectively. Thank you Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, the motion is fairly self-explanatory, but I believe the other message that it’s trying to convey is that the department, through the Auditor General’s observations, had very little in the form of monitoring the performance of the training that was completed by our staff and I found that to be a bit problematic. If you don’t know what calibre your staff are, it can very hard to initiate the programs and services that we’re compelled to do under statutory obligations. So, we recommend that this motion not only enforce the rules that need to be applicable to the safeguards of our institutions and to the proper training but we make sure we have the proper database and also that the continuing education and credentials are kept in order. So, if any of these programs are expired, we know very well what type of investment we have to do to get our staff to the right level of satisfaction in terms of job requirements. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a comprehensive response to this report within 120 days. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
