Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week I made a statement praising Hay River's liveability. It is a beautiful and safe place to raise a family, so do not take this the wrong way, but Hay River needs more cops.
Currently, Hay River is allocated seven general duty constables. Those are the men and women who patrol the community and respond to the day-to-day calls, from the routine mundane ones to the serious and potentially life-threatening calls. That is seven officers to cover the community 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, but seven officers does not necessarily mean seven officers.
The NWT has the highest vacancy rate of allocated positions of any province or territory. In addition, each officer is entitled to anywhere between 15 and 20 weeks of annual leave. There is also a list of required training courses that the RCMP must attend. Those courses can last up to two weeks. What all this means is that there are times when there are only three general duty constables available to cover all shifts.
On top of this, the RCMP have to perform duties that are handled by sheriffs in most other jurisdictions. Court is held in Hay River every second Monday, with trials on the following Tuesday and sometimes Wednesday. The RCMP are responsible for transporting prisoners to and from these proceedings, and monitoring them while they are in court. That means up to six days a month there is one officer who is unable to respond to calls, patrol the community, or assist in investigations.
The fact is, and the RCMP will confirm this, we will need more general duty constables in Hay River. Let us consider how we stacked up against other jurisdictions. We are 50 per cent bigger than Fort Smith. They have six positions, compared to our seven. Inuvik has 12 positions, despite the fact that Hay River fields twice as many calls per constable that result in charges being laid, each charge charged as hours of paperwork. The staff shortage impacts public safety, officer safety, and I can't imagine it is good for the mental well-being of these officers who are being asked to do more than is humanly possible.
There are simple solutions that the department must be aware of but has not acted on. The obvious, allocate more positions in Hay River. A men's shelter would significantly cut down the number of calls the RCMP responded to. Just look at what the sobering centre has done in Yellowknife. Third, task the sheriffs with handling prisoner transport and overseeing prisoners while in court. I will have questions for the Minister of Justice at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife North.
