Thank you, Mr. Chair. We're expecting the RFP will go out in March so that there will not be any gaps in service. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. March has 31 days. Can the Minister just be a little bit more specific? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Mr. Chair, early to mid-March. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair, I appreciate that, and the sooner the better because I think there's quite a bit of work that's going to have to be done to evaluate the proposals and get things up and going before the current contract ends. So I urge the department to move forward as quickly as they possibly can with this to make sure that we've got continuity of service. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. More of a comment. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I wonder if the Minister could share with us what the 2017-18 policing priorities are? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
I can advise that, in a general sense, of course, we want to provide the best policing services we can to all 33 communities. Each of the 33 communities does have policing action plans developed between the local RCMP and the community, so those are some of our priorities. Thank you
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm looking at a response from the department to questions asked during the 2017-18 business plan, and I'll read from this. It says:
"The Minister of Justice establishes annual priorities for policing for the NWT. Included in the 2016-17 policing priorities is to promote public trust and confidence in policing services that are culturally inclusive."
So what I'm looking for, Mr. Chair, is an analogous statement that states what the overall priorities are; unless the department doesn't direct priorities any longer, I'm not sure about that. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, we are working on the priorities, building on the priorities of past years. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay, so we know you're working on the priorities. Can you give us a sense of what they are? Thank you
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
It will be somewhat similar to the ones in the past years. I mean, what we want to do is we make sure that we can provide effective policing to all of the 33 communities of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, if the Minister doesn't yet know what the policing priorities are for the next year I'm happy for him to take my question on notice and to get back to me, but the best policing service possible and similar to last year's are not the level of detail I'm looking for. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Sure, they are in the process of development. Policing priorities tend not to change radically from year to year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you. Could the Minister tell us what direction is given to the RCMP and/or the communities when they are developing the individual policing plans, community policing plans? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
I understand the manner in which these agreements are developed is that the RCMP meet with the local community. So it's not a question of us giving direction; this is an RCMP initiative. They meet with the community, develop a policing plan that's suitable for the individual community. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you. I want to give an example. So we all know that family violence rates, meaning assault and sexual assault in intimate partnerships, are at high levels. So how would a goal like working more closely on prevention work in this kind of a situation, or is that not a level of detail that these plans go into? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Mr. Chairman, if I might have the deputy minister respond?
Thank you. Mr. Goldney.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and just to pick up on the example that the Member used, I think is a good example where we might not necessarily see a large RCMP response to the issue of prevention given that they're there to respond to criminal activities as those needs arise. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Goldney. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I recognize that the example I gave was not a very good example, so let's take something like the ODARA Score that is used to assess domestic violence incidents for their intensity, shall we say. Is that the kind of thing that gets factored into these policing plans? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
I'm certain that it would be on that level. I think the ODARA Score, which was developed in Ontario I believe, now is accepted generally by police and courts as a way of evaluating risk in domestic violent situations. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So would a goal like promoting the use of the ODARA Score tool, would that be part of a territory-wide policing priority? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister. I apologize, Mr. Goldney.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Certainly it's a tool recognized and would be used in risk assessments, as there might be some police involvement required for those types of assessments. We do see that tool being used perhaps more frequently in other responses to this issue beyond the criminal justice system response, the social response to this issue which involves other aspects and other programs outside of policing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Goldney. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for that response. So where I'm going with this is: how does the Minister of Justice set up accountability by the police? How are the police accountable for their policing priorities and for the implementation of those priorities to the Department of Justice? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Well, Mr. Chair, I do meet with the commanding officer of the RCMP on occasion or when required, so we can discuss priorities at that time. Of course, the RCMP is independent of the government, so I do not direct them to do certain things. Certainly they consult with us and seek our input. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So to give this idea an example to make it more tangible, what was the process that ended with government support for the Child Exploitation Unit? How does an issue like that get inserted into policing priorities and the relationship between the police and the government? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you. This has been a priority for some time. What happened in the past, though, because this is a very specialized area involving complex warrants, complex evidence and difficult court cases often we had to bring in RCMP from other jurisdictions which is incredibly expensive and inefficient. So what was decided by the RCMP is that they would set up their own unit here to respond to this complex and serious situation. Perhaps I could ask the deputy minister to expand on that. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Goldney.
