Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Justice in regard to the corrections staffing at our correctional facilities. The Minister made reference to a report, a workplace assessment report that was commissioned by the deputy minister of the Department of Justice. Did the Minister plan to table this report? If yes, when? If not, how does the Minister intend to be transparent in how they will deal with the concerns raised by staff in the report? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for her persistent advocacy on behalf of her constituents. This is a very concerning situation with some history. The Member's statement was quite a retort to my statement, and it explained the long history of this. I will not be tabling that report. When this report was initiated, the staff were told that it would be kept confidential.
While there was obviously a risk of it being released once it was distributed to all staff and to other parties, that was a risk that we knew we had to take. Despite the fact that it is publicly available, I will still be treating it as confidential and upholding that bargain that we had with staff. However, I have committed to providing updates as we make progress because, if I do not stand up here and say what we have been doing, it could just be another report that gets shelved. If I don't hold myself publicly accountable, we risk that happening, so I will do my best to ensure that we keep the public and the Members updated. Thank you.
I hear the Minister saying that he won't table the report because it was completed by employees with the intention that their words would be kept confidential, so I can only respect the Minister's decision for that one. In regard to what the Minister said today, the Minister made reference to a deputy ministers' meeting that was held in December where they discussed updating training, more recruitment, recertification. This House has seen an influx of training and an influx of dollars before. I'm just wondering how this will be different than what this House has heard before, and how this is actually going to create the change that Ministers before this one, and now this Minister, has also said will come as a result of these moves.
The Member is right to be sceptical. She wouldn't be here if she wasn't; none of us would. Governments say lots of things, and sometimes they don't happen. I don't know if there is anything I could say that would assure me as a Regular Member. It has to be proven. We have to actually do the work. We have to come back on a regular basis and show that we're doing the work, and that's really the only way to prove ourselves.
I will note that there was one difference, something that's never been done before. That is that this is not just an effort of the department, and it's not just an effort of the department staff. We also have the UNW involved at a level they've never been involved at before, with reporting to the deputy ministers of Finance, of Justice, and to the president of the UNW. I think that gives a much stronger voice to the staff than has happened previously, and it's going to force a lot more collaboration and more positive outcomes.
One of the common undertones of what I'm hearing from the Minister today, I believe, has to do with communication; communication amongst staff, communication with members of the department, and also communication with this House and with the public. I think that's really, really important, an important kind of undertone to carry through this entire process. With that, what I'd like to know is: Part of getting buy-in for this process and from front-line staff is including them in it. In order to create positive change, the people who you are trying to create change for need to be involved in the process. Also, given that each of our facilities, our correctional facilities in the Northwest Territories, are so different and have such a different clientele, I am wondering what the Minister will do to ensure that staff are part of the process and have a say in what changes occur and how they occur at each facility.
I think communication causes most problems, not just in corrections, but everywhere. Lack of communication really leads to misunderstandings; it leads to problems not being resolved. The first thing that happened after this report came out is that senior staff, senior management, went to the different facilities. They presented this information, and they listened to the staff to hear what they had to say directly, not through a consultant. From that, they are compiling a "what we heard" report so that they can then distribute it to staff and say, "Are we hearing you correctly?" Because, sometimes, when you tell the government something, they don't necessarily hear what you're saying. Maybe they hear what they want to hear, so we are starting a feedback loop. That is one of the first things.
As part of the plan going forward, there is also a communications plan, so that everyone will know how they are going to be engaged and you can ensure that it's happening. There will be something to fall back on or to check off the list: This has happened. That's going to hold people accountable for making sure that communication happens.
As everyone here knows, communication is tough. Sometimes things change quickly, so we just have to put the effort into it and do our best. That's the plan. I think, if there was better communication 20 years ago, the Member wouldn't be able to make that statement about all of the past statements that have been made, so this can be beat. I've talked to some employees from the correction service, and they tell me about times when things were good. There were times when there was good communication between staff and management, and so I know it can happen again. This is not something that we can't overcome.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I heard the Minister refer to two separate reports, one just now and one in their Minister's statement. The one in the Minister's statement was an HR plan, and this one was a "what we heard" report. I'm wondering if the Minister can clarify if those are two separate reports or one and the same, and if both reports are intended to be tabled in this House during this session or when we can expect to see them in committee, as well. Thank you.
There is an overarching framework here that is going to guide how we move forward. Under that, there is a communications plan, so everyone knows how people are going to communicated with. The "what we heard" report is really when the management went out in December and talked to staff. They put together a report saying, "This is what we heard. Are we hearing you correctly?"
Those are all different documents. There are a number of moving parts here. I'm happy to keep the committee updated to the best that I can. There are some operational and security sensitivities with things like the framework that would prohibit me from tabling a document like that. That being said, we do have to prove that we are making progress, so we'll find a way to ensure that committee is kept up to date. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
