Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In previous private statements to the Justice Minister, I made statements regarding Indigenous staff members within corrections not having a neutral mechanism to air grievances. Staff are sometimes terminated before the issue is even dealt with by the Union of Northern Workers. My question is: how is the Minister and her department going to deal with this type of injustice to our Indigenous public employees? Is this what accountability and transparency in the Department of Justice looks like? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. There are well-established processes within all of the public service that allow people to report wrongdoing to their supervisors and managers. There are also processes in place that allow for whistleblowing through an agreement that we have so far. There are different ways that people can go about reporting what they perceive to be wrongdoing, and certainly, Mr. Speaker, all unionized employees are encouraged to engage in their unions, specifically to corrections.
Mr. Speaker, this is a challenging work environment, which is why already, earlier in January, we established a connection, a working group between justice and human resources section. They do have a work plan in place. There were some delays in terms of some of the rollout that was expected to happen this spring and some of the responding measures that were expected to happen this spring, but I did check back in with corrections, and it is my understanding that they are now back on track to have some very specific human resources work done so that they can continue to improve that workplace for its staff. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As a former Chief, I've seen first hand the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples by the RCMP, the courts, and the corrections system. As mentioned in my statement, I have seen countless cases of police brutality, along with more severe punishments for Indigenous people and greater rates of incarceration for Indigenous people, too. My question is: does the Minister believe that a review of our courts, corrections, and policing systems are needed in the NWT, and, if so, what would that look like?
Earlier today, a number of MLAs spoke very passionately about systemic racism, its presence, and its reality in Canada and in the Northwest Territories, and no department is immune to that. The Department of Justice isn't immune to that. As far as a review, an overall review of corrections, courts, policing, no, Mr. Speaker, in my view, that's not the direction that we're intending to go right now. It doesn't mean we don't have a lot of work to do to improve the systems that we are within. There are certainly a lot of efforts underway already to increase engagement with individual communities, with Indigenous communities, to reduce the over-incarceration of Indigenous people, to improve the connections between RCMP and Indigenous people. This is something that is really system-wide, Mr. Speaker, and at this point, it's not a review. I think we've had a lot, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Missing and Murdered national inquiry, and frankly, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People is going back to 1996. We know what the solutions are. They are out there. We just need to start acting on them. Mr. Speaker, what it's going to look like is that we have to start looking very meaningfully at what those recommendations are and start to actually take some steps to achieve them.
In a recent CBC interview, the Premier discussed potential ideas to help improve the RCMP and its relationship with the communities it serves. With respect, Mr. Speaker, I want to recall some previous conversations with the justice Minister regarding a lack of enforcement on drug dealers and of the RCMP interactions regarding concerned citizens. I was told repeatedly that the RCMP is a separate entity and that it's arm's length from our government. My question is: since our Premier and our Member of parliament are now weighing in on RCMP activity, can the Minister clarify what role and responsibility our government holds in preventing the use of excessive force and police brutality in the Northwest Territories?
The RCMP are the police force in the Northwest Territories by virtue of the Territorial Police Services Agreement. That is an agreement that we have through the federal Department of Justice, given that, indeed, the RCMP are a national police force. As such, we don't have operational control over their operations. We don't necessarily have the right or ability to direct, for example, who is hired, who is placed where, or how investigations are conducted. That said, Mr. Speaker, we do have the ability, through that agreement, to do what is called the Minister's police priorities. We do support having the RCMP in the communities, acting on those priorities to have community policing engagements.
While we are not directing the operations, we do have a role in engaging and directing the overall direction of the police within the Northwest Territories. As far as continuing to hold the police accountable, all are a number of avenues that individuals can take to report behaviours that are inconsistent with the values of the Northwest Territories, values of Canada, and values of the charter. I would certainly encourage anyone to continue to use those avenues, and we will continue to use our avenues to engage and ensure the priorities of the RCMP match up with the priorities that were espoused here in the House.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In a recent interview, the Prime Minister said he would be seeking feedback from all Canadian Premiers about how to improve policing across Canada. My question is: what recommendations, if any, will our government be giving to the Prime Minister about how to improve policing in the NWT and reduce police brutality on residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I believe our Premier's already spoken quite forcefully about the importance of this initiative and about the importance of looking for options to increase trust between law enforcement and citizenry. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of programs already underway and initiatives underway, not the least of which is the First Nations' Policing Program, which, through a lot of advocacy through the Department of Justice, they have been able to add five positions to a regional cohort here in the Northwest Territories with the hope that, with more people on the ground, more officers on the ground, it will better allow them to engage with communities and have presence in the communities.
Mr. Speaker, though there is much more that we can do in my view, in my view, again, as I've said, there are recommendations within the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. There are recommendations in the TRC. We should be looking at those recommendations and being strong advocates with our federal partners so that they are acting on them and so that they are helping us to fund the actions that are being recommended. Mr. Speaker, I will be taking, certainly, another look at them and looking at where we can help advocate for those changes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
