Thank you, Member for Thebacha. I will allow the seconder to speak to the motion and open it up to others, if they wish to. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I support the motion. For far too long, we've had lots of racist overtones happening to our people. It has currently been happening in my community for well over a year at a specific institution that I probably have mentioned many times in the House and within meetings, and it is still continuing to this day. I made a Member's statement on it, and I don't want to have to go through it all. Mr. Speaker, I do support the motion. Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. To the motion. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to acknowledge and thank the mover and seconder of the motion for bringing the matter forward in the House. I didn't use my Member's statement to speak to the issue today, but I'm not sure I really have a lot to add that is profound or different from what my colleagues have already said. I acknowledge that racism continues to exist here in the Northwest Territories and that we do need to work to stop it and put in place measures that will help people reach their full potential. I acknowledge that my colleagues on the Cabinet side have started some of that work, and I look forward to working with them on this issue for the remainder of this term. I do support the motion. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. To the motion. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I want to acknowledge the mover and seconder of this motion. These motions, you can see a lot of motions that come through. Some of them, they take guts to come forward and do it, and courage. I think this is one of those motions. I commend my colleagues for bringing forth this motion. Going back, like I said, a lot of us covered this in our Member's statements. Yes, we have all these nice words, we have all these nice well-worded documents, but at the heart of it all is actions. I am hoping that all of us, all my colleagues, work really hard and back up our words with actions. Aside from all that, Mr. Speaker, I support this motion. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. To the motion. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you. I support this motion, as well. I know that our Cabinet colleagues have been doing a lot of work in this area, and I know that there are many people within our public service who are doing this work as we sit here, not just only for Indigenous people, but Black, Indigenous, people of colour. We all have to make the Northwest Territories safe for everybody and our policies reflect that so that we all make sure that we all have access to education, the justice system, our child welfare. All these programs are all intertwined in what I spoke to, about the statement that we made today in this House on systemic racism. We just need to make sure that we have this motion here to move things forward, to continue that momentum, so we can move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. To the motion. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have anything prepared, and I am the last person who is going to stand up here and tell everyone else in this room what racism means to them. I do commit to being an ally and to educating myself and to always trying to check my own privilege when I can. I look to all my colleagues to help me do so and commit to continuing to do so. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. To the motion. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the mover and the seconder for the motion, as well. I did a Member's statement on it today. I said what I had to say. At the same time, I think that it's incumbent upon all of us to stand up against racism. It's incumbent upon us to support each other, support people, and just treat people with respect and help people. If we go through life like that, I am hoping that we can make a real difference here, at least in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. To the motion. Government House Leader.
Mr. Speaker, this Cabinet and the Government of the Northwest Territories recognize and are committed to addressing systemic racism. As the Premier stated earlier today, we have a moral and ethical obligation to root out racism in our institutions. While there is much work already being done on this, we acknowledge that we have much more to do, both within government and society more broadly, and we are committed to doing that work. In our system of government, it is convention that Cabinet abstains from voting on recommendations to government, so we will be abstaining. However, Cabinet fully supports the principles behind this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Government House Leader. I will allow the mover to make closing remarks if she wishes. Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, I think this motion is vital to improving how we deal with people of colour, Black people, and Indigenous people. Coming from the heart, I think that it's a very important motion, that we all have to recognize that things are not the way they should be all the time. Having a personal experience that happened to me on February 1st, I have never had that happen to me, and I never felt that way in all of the years that I have lived in the Northwest Territories. I have been very fortunate. A lot of the people that I represent, especially the Indigenous people of Salt River and all of the Indigenous organizations in the Northwest Territories, that's where you see the difference. With that, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. The motion is in order. To the motion. The Member has requested a recorded vote.
Question.
The Member for Thebacha, the Member for Nunakput, the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, the Member for Hay River South, the Member for Great Slave, the Member for Kam Lake, the Member for Frame Lake, the Member for Deh Cho, the Member for Yellowknife North, the Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
All those opposed, please rise. All those abstaining, please rise.
The Member for Yellowknife South, the Member for Range Lake, the Member for Yellowknife Centre, the Member for Nahendeh, the Member for Sahtu, the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, the Member for Hay River North.
The results of the recorded vote: 10 in favour, 0 opposed, 7 abstentions. The motion is carried.
---Carried
I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Norn.
Marsi cho, Madam Chair. Committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 286-19(2), Main Estimates 2021-2022, Department of Justice. Marsi cho.
Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will proceed with the first item. Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 286-19(2), Main Estimates 2021-2022. Does the Minister of Justice have any opening remarks?
Yes, I do. Should I just take it away? Thank you. I am here to present the 2021-2022 Main Estimates for the Department of Justice. Overall, the department's estimates propose an increase of $136,000 over the Main Estimates 2020-2021. These estimates continue to support the mandate objectives for the Department of Justice while continuing to meet the GNWT's fiscal objectives to prioritize responsible and strategic spending.
Highlights of these proposed estimates include forced growth funding of $877,000:
$99,000 to fund increased external counsel costs in the Office of the Children's Lawyer;
$123,000 to fund increased inmate services costs being incurred at the North Slave Correctional Complex;
$233,000 to hire two additional sheriff officers to address staffing shortfalls; and
$422,000 for the Territorial Police Services Agreement to allow the staffing of three additional RCMP constable positions in Yellowknife;
Initiative funding of:
$303,000 for the implementation of a community safety officer pilot program within an NWT community. This program will be developed by Indigenous peoples for Indigenous peoples;
Funding sunsets of $1.424 million, including:
$20,000 that supported the activities related to the legalization of cannabis;
$339,000 to defer the establishment of two legal counsel positions in support of the initiative approach to unauthorized and rights-based occupancy;
federal funding of $316,000 thousand from the Indigenous Justice Program fund; and
$749,000 from the A Framework for Enhancing Victim Services Agreement in the NWT;
In other funding adjustments of $415,000, including:
$158,000 incremental investment under the federal gun and gang violence action fund; and
$257,000 for the implementation of the Judicial Remuneration Commission Report recommendations.
These estimates continue to support the priorities of the 19th Legislative Assembly by allowing the department to:
work with the RCMP to ensure that all 33 communities in the Northwest Territories have policing priority action plans in place that are based on the specific needs of each community and are developed in partnership with community leadership;
support community justice committees in the development of alternatives to the criminal justice system, such as diversion programs, and community service and crime prevention programs;
make ongoing improvements to corrections programming to address the root causes that lead an individual to crime, integrate Indigenous culture and traditions, and support inmate reintegration back into their community; and
finalize the transition of the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre in Hay River to a therapeutic community model to ensure that participants in the program have person-centred care and much needed support to turn their lives around.
This concludes my opening remarks, and I look forward to answering questions from Members. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, will you please introduce your witnesses for the record?
Thank you, Madam Chair. We have Charlene Doolittle, deputy minister; and Mandi Bolstad, director of corporate services. Thank you.
Thank you and welcome. Committee has agreed to forgo general comments. Does the committee agree to proceed to the detail in the contained tabled document?
Agreed.
Committee, we will defer the departmental summary and review estimates by activity summary, beginning with community justice and policing, starting on page 274, with information items on page to 277. Minister.
Thank you. As we get into this, our first item is community justice and policing, and I just want to remind everyone that policing services is later on, so this is not the section to discuss the RCMP. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I promise not to discuss the RCMP. My first question is in regard to victim services, and I am just wondering: there was a report that was published in 2020, the victim services program evaluation, and as part of that there were recommendations to the GNWT, many of which requested items that would cost money, one of which was to allocate additional resources for travel to outreach for communities. I am noting that travel has gone down by about half, so is there a costed plan associated with the victim services program evaluation available from the Department of Justice? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Some of those recommendations, the department has already acted on, things like the travel. I can send it to the deputy minister for some more detail, though. Thank you.
Thank you. deputy minister Doolittle.
Madam Chair, we are currently working with our partners and our stakeholders, too, based on the recommendations coming forward, and that would include a costed action plan. We are also discussing this with the federal government, where we receive a lot of funds in this area. Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. We are currently working on that.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. One of my concerns is that I think, as I go through my other questions, we want to pull a lot out of this, but this page and the funds that go along with it have come down by about $600,000. We are wanting this section of Justice to do a lot more with a lot less money and not the additional funds that we are looking for. That is definitely a concern that I have, but I am happy to know that the action plan is coming. If the action plan does not come with dollars from the federal government, is there room for Justice to move money around to accommodate that plan within this fiscal year? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you. The Member noted a decrease of about $600,000, and that is due to the sunsetting of the victim services agreement. That is about $749,000. However, I believe we may have signed that, a new agreement -- no, we are working on negotiating a new agreement, and we are confident that it's going forward. It's just a matter of time, but it was not ready for these main estimates. That is in the works. There is limited money in Justice to move around. It is very mandated, and we require budgets for specific things such as RCMP, such as courts, and we do not really control those budgets, necessarily. They are largely driven by the organizations, the RCMP and the courts. It will be a challenge, but we will do our best. We were unable to really include those costs here, given that we do not have the action plan yet and this budget is already set. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Is there intent then, if the plan does come back and the money is not within justice, that justice would put forward a supplementary appropriation? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you. Perhaps I can pass it to Ms. Bolstad for some details.
