Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Recruiting local people to perform local services is, I believe, something that everyone wants to see. With respect to, though, the specific recruitment efforts of the RCMP, I am hesitant to make any commitments on their behalf, but I agree with the Member. I certainly already do meet with our "G" Division commanding officer, the partners that we have in the delivery of the policing services. I will continue to do so, and I will raise with them recruitment targets. The last time we met, I recall very specifically that they took some pride in the number of recruitments that they have. I believe in fact that they have a dedicated recruitment officer here in the Northwest Territories. I will confirm that, and I will confirm it back to the Member. That was my recollection, is that they are in fact quite proud of the efforts that they are making to recruit Northerners to the RCMP service. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Chair. Obviously, I would like to see up-and-coming training on the "G" Division as has happened at the depot. I know there has been some in-term exposure for some northern students. Just so it happens, one of my daughters was interested, so she pursued it through her high school. She had a week, I believe it was a week or 10 days, at the depot, and obviously, she is interested now. She wants to be a cop after she gets her degree, so I think we need to do more of those areas of recruitment and promotion. I am glad the Minister is willing to sit down with the chief commanding officer to deal with this matter.
Mr. Chair, I would like to focus on 33 communities, since we are talking about community justice and the conversation, as well, in her opening remarks: working with the RCMP to ensure 33 communities of Northwest Territories have a policing priority action plan. As you know, Mr. Chair, not all communities have RCMP detachments, and I do believe we did away with that. We are not building any more detachments. Is that the understanding the Minister has? Masi, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Mr. Chair, the cost of a new detachment is approximately $7 to $10 million simply to build it. That is notwithstanding the several millions of dollars of continuing maintenance thereafter, so that is not in the immediate capital plan. I am happy to answer that question. I am just not sure if there are more detailed questions about policing services as opposed to community policing. I guess I am a bit in the chair's hands, as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Chair. What I am trying to get at is those communities that do not have detachments, how do we restrain those individuals who get in trouble? I see first-hand in Gameti, they have a restraining chair in one of the offices at the community government offices; it's just a small room. What if we had, like, five of them, five individuals who are making trouble in the community? We only have two officers who every now and then come and visit the community of Gameti. I am just more concerned about the safety aspects of the community. It's not just my community; there are 10 or 11 communities without detachments. I am speaking on all of them. I am speaking on behalf of them, as well. What is the plan going forward to deal with those areas, detaining those individuals who may be causing trouble? We only have two officers in the community, and we are lucky that there has not been a major offence in the community, to deal with this, these matters. Mr. Chair, I am just speaking from a community safety perspective. What is the plan going forward from justice department, working with "G" Division? Masi.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the key areas of engagement that we have already begun as the Department of Justice within the 19th Assembly is to truly advocate to the federal government to expand the First Nations Policing Program. The First Nations Policing Program provides a different type of funding arrangement between the RCMP and the Government of the Northwest Territories and supports the increase of additional positions within Indigenous communities. Under that program, as it is, there are five additional police officers coming in, in 2021, but it's our view that that program really needs to be expanded so that it can better serve a bigger variety of communities. Right now, those positions are regional, but they are regional to within communities that are already signed into that framework.
Our hope is that, with some advocacy with community partners or with Indigenous governments, the federal government will, in fact, expand that program so that it can be one that benefits more of the communities and we can, as such, better serve exactly the communities that the Member is speaking of. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Chair. I, too, definitely agree that this should be expanded. The First Nations Policing Program has been very successful in the past, and we should be at a point of, as the Justice Department or as a government, we should be matching the GNWT "G" Division, what they offer at the table. There should be a partnership. We talk about partnership as a government, but we shouldn't just be looking to "G" Division to see if they are willing to add more funding. We should be proactive.
Mr. Chair, I only have 30 seconds of my time. One more question I have is the justice committees. Are all committees actively engaged and active as justice committee members? Masi.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can say that all 33 communities are engaged by the Department of Justice towards developing their community justice committees, but that not all communities have the same level of participation amongst their actual committees. There are a handful of communities that, although there has been outreach, are still working to have greater development of their community justice programs. I can tell you, from 2019-2020, that 30 of the 33 did access funding for community justice programs, so those other three, we certainly, as I say, continue to be engaged with them, but there is still some work to be done. Mr. Chair, this is an area in general that, while funding over 2020-2021 is set, it's certainly my hope that this is an area where we can continue to work with community partners and Indigenous governments to really engage the activity within the communities, so that it's really about a partnership, about what's happening on the ground, and not simply us going to them but them joining us and moving community justice forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Are there any more questions with respect to community justice and policing? Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just one short question, and it has to do with Aboriginal policing, also, because there is a problem with enforcement on reserve. There has always been a problem. You talked about training and First Nations policing and getting access to the federal program. I think that's a good way of going, and I encourage you to do that. I think that it's very important that Salt River First Nations Reserve has proper enforcement by its own people. I'm just making a comment, and I think it's extremely important. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. These kinds of reminders are exactly one of the main benefits of this process. I appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Just a reminder. I guess we kind of agreed there that we'd just have one round of questions, so just keep that in mind. Are there any further questions with respect to community justice and policing? No further questions. Please turn to page 263. Justice, community justice and policing, operations expenditure summary, 2020-2021 Main Estimates, $6,594,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Corrections, beginning on page 266 with information item on page 269. Any questions or comments? Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I see that new in the last budget was offender reintegration line. Could the Minister just elaborate on this? Apparently, it's to do with the therapeutic community, but I wasn't aware that the therapeutic community had started operating yet. Could she explain? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The therapeutic community is still under development, but it will start operation during this fiscal year that is under consideration at this point. In fact, the full transition is expected to happen in the fall of 2020, and so this funding is considered to be part of that preparation and it's meant to assist in working with local community partners and to assist in preparing local community partners in order that they can be available to support the re-entry and, well, the therapeutic community itself, so ensuring that individuals who are going through that process have access to services and placements within that community and that there can be outreach done in advance of the full program being rolled out. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister tell us about some of the community partners and what assistance, exactly, they are going to provide? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Mr. Chair, when I attended, myself, down in Hay River and had a tour, they described engaging with everything from businesses to local volunteer organizations, to provide both sort of placements and just involvement and to engage them so that they are aware of what the program is and what the opportunities to involve might be. That's not a very specific answer, and at this point, the reason it's not very specific is because some of the details of exactly who might be involved depends on the willingness of those partners to be involved. What I would suggest, Mr. Chair, is that I would commit to get back to the Member as those plans develop. When there is more of a list of it, if there are to be committed partners or a list of anticipated partners, I would commit to get that to the Member at that time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you. I appreciate that answer, and I look forward to seeing the roll-out plan for fall of this year. When this money on offender reintegration is being spent, is any of it being spent on lining up housing for people who are coming out of the therapeutic community? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this point, that is an option. It is one of the possibilities. Again, it will depend on who specifically in the community is ultimately partnered and ultimately decides to be partnered; so not only on the end of the Department of Justice but from the community partners. This may well be an opportunity for partners in that community to offer some sort of housing reintegration, but at this point, I can't commit specifically other than to say that it's an option.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Nothing further.
Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Let me know if this is not the correct place to ask this question, but I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to if there is a budget for professional leadership development for corrections officers within our correctional facilities. Does it fall under this page? Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for that, Member. I am not quite sure, but, Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know there is a budget for leadership training and for corrections training generally, and I think it probably does fall within this area, so I will leave it to the Member for her next question. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Okay. It does fall under here, but we are not entirely sure where. Maybe that would be under compensation and benefits? I am going to take a guess. There is a bit of an increase there, but I think it is from UNW forced growth. I am wondering if there is an increase, for this fiscal year, of leadership professional development training for corrections officers. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Mr. Chair, sorry, and I am sorry for the hesitancy earlier. It depends a bit on what part the Member is asking for. Training funding comes both under the contracts for the people providing it as well as travel, for example. As far as an increase this year, there is not a detailed increase. There is no specific increase. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are a number of people who work within corrections facilities who are not necessarily corrections officers, so I am wondering if there is any kind of professional development fund for people who are not corrections officers, who may require safety training because they work within the facility? Our corrections officers undergo six to eight weeks of training for safety and how to do their job, so other people who may come into contact with inmates, is there any kind of professional development training for those people? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Any individuals who are coming into the facility have access to a variety of GNWT training programs. If there are specific individuals from outside of the correctional service, so for example if they are staff within the health department, Mr. Chair, I may not be best placed to speak to what specific training they have or have not received. I think perhaps I would commit to getting the Member a breakdown, perhaps by who comes into the facility. There was one specific item I was looking for. The Member had mentioned about leadership. Corrections is currently developing a leadership course for their supervisors and their managers that is, as I say, right now under development, under the expectations that it will delivered in 2020 and 2021. To the extent that we have better management and supervising within the corrections facilities, that will be no doubt to the benefit of all GNWT staff who enter into the premises. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Minister did set up a very helpful tour for a lot of Members, at the North Slave Correctional Facility, that a lot of us did partake in, and it was really nice to have the opportunity during that visit to meet with the facility's traditional counsellor who is employed there. I am wondering, because a lot of inmates in the Northwest Territories are also on a healing journey when they are in our correctional facilities, does the traditional counsel have their own budget line item for cultural activities within the facilities? Thank you
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is not a specific line item for cultural activities within the facility. That said, it is very much considered to be a core part of the services that are provided by corrections in the Northwest Territories, starting from the point when somebody enters the facility through to the kinds of programming that are provided, as well as, for example, even the structure of the buildings themselves. The new facility that is in Fort Smith, Mr. Chair, has considered better integrating a land-based approach, even within the facility itself, even within the construction of the grounds of the facility. It is not a line item, but it is a consideration at all stages and in all types of planning that are undertaken for corrections. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
