Thank you. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Policing has always been a problem, with $47.6 million spent on the RCMP, and the visibility within the community is almost zero. That is a problem in my community. We haven't had any drug busts for over 20 years. They're not visible in the community. I've had a problem with that for many years, even as a chief of Salt River. I just feel that more could be done. That's a lot of money spent on an independent organization that doesn't have a lot of communication with First Nations. I have a real problem with that.
How to fix it? I don't know, but there has to be some solutions. I feel that that Zoom meeting we had with Commander Zettler was -- I mean, he couldn't even read his notes. It was disgusting. I'm friends with him, okay? Mutual friends, but I don't agree with the way things are done, and when I don't agree with something, I usually say it. I'm very open about how I feel about the RCMP because they are not visible, and everybody in the community comments on that. Having the sergeant just go and talk to the leaders once a month is not okay. They've got to be able to do their job and be visible in the community, take part in the community, and be part of the community. It's very important, and I don't know how we can come to a solution with that. Maybe the Minister will be able to facilitate some change, but there has to be change. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Justice.
Thank you. I can't say I'm familiar exactly with what's happening in Fort Smith. I know that a lot of the interactions in the communities are really based on who might be there at any given time, and you might have someone who comes in who is stronger in communication than someone else. Communication is the cause of probably 80 percent of the problems that I come across in this job, anyways, and improving communication is always probably the easiest fix to some of the biggest problems. That being said, I know the Member said she is friends with the commanding officer. From my conversations with him, at his level, they are doing things to try and make the members parts of the community in ways that they don't do outside of the territory. When a new recruit moves to a small community, they are required to attend community events, really interact with the community, so there are things like that that go on. There is an understanding that we do need that type of interaction. The Member's frustration about lack of drug busts and things like that, I hear that in my community, as well. There are frustrations that are expressed, but they are not falling on deaf ears. I don't know if the deputy minister has anything to add to this. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Deputy Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. One thing to raise here is the First Nations Policing Policy. We do now have positions in the Northwest Territories, and this is something we continue to advocate for and have in our communities, as well. The commanding officer for "G" Division has made it an organizational priority that RCMP detachment commanders work and are meaningfully connected with their local leadership. They work with the local leadership to come up with community policing action plans, and those are the priorities of the local communities. Every community has one of those community action plans.
As well, the commanding officer has also prioritized community-specific involvement by his members. When they move to the community, they have to attend feasts and meet with elders and have visits. These activities need to be part of the initial introduction, but they also need to be ongoing, as well. This is prioritized by the RCMP. When there is a need, and we will certainly take note of this, we have biweekly meetings with the commanding officer. We meet with him and have discussions, and recently, there were concerns raised for Fort Providence and for Behchoko. The commanding officer has made extra efforts to have those discussions in those communities where the leadership has shown concerns locally. This is something we will certainly take back and try to have a focus on. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am very familiar with the community action plan. It's the same thing every year. I've been in leadership in Fort Smith for 14 years as chief. We have two lines: one of them is the priority is drugs; the second is whatever; and the third. Every year has been the same thing, and you've got to sign off on it. Finally, I told them, "Don't come around anymore." Nothing ever comes to fruit anyways. You know, $47.6 million for an independent police force, and have no say on what happens in the community, is unbelievable and unacceptable. I feel very strongly about this.
Sure, we've had some incredible sergeants at different times, and talking about First Nation policing, not all First Nation policing is perfect, either. Lateral systemic racism is even worse than the RCMP, sometimes, with First Nation policing. Yes, we would like First Nation policing, but we have to make sure that they do their job the way they are supposed to do it, and be part of the community, and be visible, not stay at home all day with their families. That's exactly what is happening. Ever since this pandemic hit, it's even worse. They use the excuse about the pandemic, and you can't even get hold of them. You can go buzz the door there, and you have to wait for a good while in the cold if you have a concern. That's happened a few times, even with myself, Madam Chair. Things have got to change, and I want change in this area. When is the last time Commander Zettler has come to Fort Smith to meet there, or even come to Fort Smith to meet with anyone? Ask him that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Did you have any comments, Minister?
I hear the Member's frustration, so I will take that. I appreciate all input. I am still getting a handle on this department, and so I'm glad to hear input from different MLAs from different regions so I know what's going on and what the sense of different organizations related to the department are. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm looking at the biology casework line item. It's a $183,000 item. Just from looking at the page before, it appears this would be the cost-sharing agreement with Public Safety Canada for our part of the DNA work, et cetera, for our legal services. Could the Minister speak to whether or not we have any backlog in DNA testing, that type of work? I may be watching a little bit too much Law & Order SVU, but I'm just curious to know: is that ever an issue for us in the North, where our case work, our biological work, doesn't get processed in time, and does that impact court dates, et cetera? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you. We have no backlog. Perhaps, for a bit of history, Ms. Bolstad might be able to enlighten us. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Bolstad.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Backlogs have been a discussion at the DNA labs nationally, so this has been a discussion for the provinces and territories. We have been assured by the commanding officer that we have no delays that are impacting our cases here. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Bolstad. Member.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That's one instance where being a small territory actually benefits us. I have no further questions. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Any further questions under policing services? Seeing none, please turn to page 292. Justice, policing services, operations expenditure summary, 2021-2022 Main Estimates, $48,234,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will now turn to services to government, beginning on page 293, with information on pages up to 296. Questions? Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I have a couple of questions here. There were some media reports about, basically, implementation of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. I had understood that regulations were required first before the full changes that were passed in the last Assembly, almost two years ago, could be brought into force. Perhaps the Minister can provide some clarification of where we're at with the implementation? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The privacy office, which has been centralized in Justice, which we will be coordinating, not necessarily doing all the leg work for all of the departments, has come into effect this month. That should help the GNWT provide more, I don't want to say more streamlined, but I am trying to think of the right word here, coordinated requests. What we are seeing is that there are not more access to information requests; there are more complex requests coming through. That requires a lot of time from departments, so by centralizing this and creating a bit of expertise, the government is better able to respond.
The Member is correct in that the regulations are required for the amendments to the act to come into force. As I have said before in this House, we are still looking at this summer, and that has been a bit delayed with staffing issues in the ATIP office. There are some regulations that will be coming into force sooner. Those are the regulations to reduce some of the fees that are charged for ATIP requests, and those will be coming into force on Friday. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate that response from the Minister. Certainly, I pushed for him to separate the issue of reducing the fees from the other matters that need to be regulated, so I appreciate that very much. Can the Minister point to me, in the budget here, are there any additional resources, then, for Justice to carry out these additional coordination functions related to ATIP? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you. This has been the plan for some time, so those have been accounted for. Perhaps I can ask Ms. Bolstad. I know we had been delayed in implementing this, so I believe the funds were already in the budget. Ms. Bolstad might be able to add some more. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Bolstad.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the additional positions for centralizing the ATIP requests were established in the 2019-2020 Main Estimates. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. My last area of questions here is with regard to legislative drafting. I know the Minister and I had an exchange in the House the other day that was a little bit mischaracterized by some in the media. How many people do we actually have in the legislative division that support the development of legislation, or is this function actually in each of the departments? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you. Yes, the Member and I weren't at war the other day. We weren't taking shots. It was some good-natured ribbing. We were sort of trading war stories, if anything, from the last Assembly on legislation. Perhaps I can ask Ms. Bolstad for some of the particulars about how many people we actually have drafting. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Bolstad.
Thank you, Madam Chair. There is a total of 11 positions within the legislation division. That includes the director, a couple of administrative staff, and then a few drafters, as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Look, I don't want to drag this out, but has that capacity increased or decreased? Has it changed over time? As I said, I am happy that you guys come forward and ask for more resources here so that we can get more legislation before the House and committees. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you. I am not sure about the historic numbers, but I think that part of the issue is the timing of legislation. We made it through the last Assembly, like it or not, with the outcome. We were able to do it, and I know that the drafters put in a lot of hours. We are hoping that, by controlling the flow of legislation a little better, we will be able to do a better job of managing their work loads. I am not sure if Ms. Bolstad has any of the history or the deputy minister. Yes, the deputy minister. Thank you.
Thank you. Deputy Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we do go forward when there is a need, and we track that, as well. We also have contract drafters that can assist us when needed, and these are in times of when it's very busy and legislation does need to get through. We use those contract drafters when needed. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks. That's something I will just continue to keep an eye on, and I want to thank the Minister and his staff for the collaborative exchange. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Are there any further questions or comments on services to government from committee? Justice, services to government, operations expenditure summary, 2021-2022 Main Estimates, $12,574,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will now turn to services to the public, beginning on page 297, with information items on page 299, and there are three other information items up to page 302 on this section. Questions? Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. One of the line items here that I really hear a lot about is the rental office. It's one where I do probably need to learn a little more on its operations and such. $238,000 is not very much money. I do know that a lot of our more vulnerable constituents do interact and need help at the rental office, and we often end up, as MLAs, kind of being that go-between or a navigator in helping them figure that out. My question is: could the Minister speak to whether or not that is actually adequately funded? Perhaps we need to be looking at expanding the rental office so it's a bit more of a customer service type. I'm not disparaging how the rental officers are working now; I just meant that it seems like it could be more robust. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you. I think that we can always do a better job with public interaction and customer service, but I think that, right now, we are in a good place with the rental office. I know that, a few years back, there were some staffing issues, and there were delays that were months long. It was really not fair to landlords or to tenants. There have been some changes made. There is some stability in that office. The timelines that are being met are as good as they have been in quite a while. According to the last report that came out of the rental office, the timelines really couldn't be shortened any, based on the amount of time that the parties involved have to participate. They have to get documents in and those kinds of things. Things are working quite well there right now, I have to say. Thank you.
