Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, and it's good to see that, you know, we are getting drugs off the street. And one thing I think we are getting hopefully a little bit of uptake from the public as well. So do you see or do you hear from the RCMP, you know, if we are getting more calls from the public with respect to, you know, drugs coming in or potential drugs coming into the territories?
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Thank you. And, no, I don't have the information about the number of calls or the number of tips the RCMP are receiving. I'm not sure they would even want to share that with us. But one thing they always do mention, and what I try to impress upon people as well, is that we do need the public to come forward with information. I think that a lot of the times the information that people bring forward is that, you know, there's a drug dealer in that house. Well, everyone knows there's a drug dealer in that house. There needs to be some more information. So it needs to be people who actually have some insight into, you know, maybe that person, that physical house, things like that. So those are the types of people we'd like to step forward and provide us with information so that the RCMP can get search warrants, so that they can begin investigations, they can start building cases. The public support is, you know, extremely important. It's the key to many, many of these investigations. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, you know, I think it is important that the public are engaged as well. And, you know, I think that it's up to the department or up to this government as well to make sure that they're the public are aware of, you know, how they can contact the RCMP, how they can provide these tips and, you know, what their role is. You know, they're concerned about liability. They're concerned about backlash and retaliation from some of the you know, the people who are, you know, moving the drugs, addicts and that. So, you know, we've got to ensure their safety as well so somehow we've got to be able to, you know, convey that to the public that there's a way to do it and a way to keep safe at the same time. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Thank you. And members of the public can always call the local detachment and provide information, a tip. If they are concerned about that, they can also call Crime Stoppers, and that can be anonymous as well. Thank you.
Thank you. Anything further, Member for Hay River South?
No, thanks.
All right. So do we have any other questions or comments under the policing services? Seeing none, please turn to page 316.
Justice, policing services, operations expenditure summary, Main Estimates 20232024, $56,011,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. We will now move to services to government beginning on page 318, with information items on page 319 and 320. Are there any questions under this section? If there are no questions, please turn to page Mr. O'Reilly, Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. The rental office here oh sorry, next one.
So if there's nothing under services to government, please turn to page 318. Justice, services to government, operations expenditure summary, Main Estimates 20232024, $13,446,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Now we will move to services to the public beginning on page 322, with information items on page 323. Questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. The rental office just, you know, there's actually been a decrease over the last couple years in their funding, and I just continue to get some complaints from constituents about sometimes well, both on the rent you know, the tenant side but also on the people that own residents or are leasing about how sometimes it takes quite a bit of time for a decision. So do we conduct any kind of regular surveys of wait lists or times for processing applications to the rental office in time, and how long it takes them to render a decision and so on? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Thank you. Yes, the Office of the Rental Officer produces an annual report every year, and there are wait times in there. The last report that I reviewed stated that the time from an application to a conclusion can the timeline can't be shrunk any further because of the timelines that are required for parties to provide documentation and things like that. So unless we reduce the amount of time that people have to respond and thereby perhaps impacting the you know, the administrative fairness, those times won't be reduced. We have seen a significant decline in the amount of time people are waiting since the last government because in the last government there really was a bit of a crisis, but now things are running as quickly as they can while still being fair. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Okay, no, thanks for that. I want to go on to integrated case management. And I know that this was the program where they had that return on investment work. And I remarked earlier about how I thought that was a really good study and certainly showed the value of this. But where are we at with expanding this beyond Yellowknife? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Thank you. So what the Member I believe is referencing is the integrated case management program. I couldn't recall if he said ISD or ICM. But integrated service delivery is an approach to delivering services. Integrative case management is supposed to be an integrated way to work with people who are accessing a number of different government services. It has essentially turned into a siloed program on its own, not necessarily integrated with the other programs or other services. And so we are working with other departments, having some highlevel discussions about what we want to do going forward, because this approach, while the ICM team does great work and they are really you know, we know they're saving the government money by helping these people they're working with, it's not necessarily what I would call integrated service delivery. So we're looking at how we can take an allofgovernment approach on that. And so it's a bit of a I would characterize it as a bit of a reset. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Okay, thanks for that. Is part of that review going to look at expanding this function of integrated case management outside of Yellowknife? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Thank you. So you know, what might happen in the future I can't say. While I'm not necessarily supportive of the idea of taking a siloed program, replicating it elsewhere and saying we're expanding, you know, integrated service delivery, so in that sense I would say no, we're not looking to duplicate this. However, there is a recognition that people do need that sort of one window access. And I've heard a lot about it, I've talked a lot about it, and so we are examining ways that we can make that happen outside of Yellowknife. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
No, thanks for that. And, yeah, for anyone who's listening or reads this, I really encourage them to look at the return on social investment study that was done. There's come great quotes in there from clients that have been assisted and turned their lives around and so on. And I guess it'll be one more matter for the transition report. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Are there any further questions from no, nothing? Okay. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And, Madam Chair, I wanted to talk about integrated case management as well. And I appreciate that my colleague to my left asked some of the questions that I had as well. But it actually led to a little bit of confusion for me.
So I get that ICM is kind of a team of pathfinders that then go and take people kind of from door to door of government departments to help them access all the services they might need whereas integrated service delivery doesn't use pathfinders because the whole idea there is breaking down the silos between departments so that you don't need pathfinders; you actually have government able to work to together. I get that. But in the questions that my colleague just asked, he asked what's the plan for the future and he was told there is no plan, and then in a subsequent question was told that the department is currently looking at ways to expand. And so there isn't a plan but there is a plan. And so I'm wondering if the Minister can clarify what actually is the intended future of integrated case management versus integrated service delivery? Because over the last four years, we've had integrated case management. People in this room have said hey, what about my community? People in my community are also struggling and falling through the gaps within the departments and trying to access services, and we have not seen any on the ground change in the last four years. And while we've kind of been trying to push integrated service delivery and trusting the government to be doing this work, on the flip side we're not seeing any change on the ground.
And so my question to the Minister is what is the plan, because while I appreciate the Minister says I can't say what's going to happen in the future but that's why you have a plan, so that you can say what's going to happen in the future. So that's my question, Madam Chair. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Thank you. The current plan is to look at other demonstration sites that we call ICM; in Yellowknife, a demonstration site. Looking at ways to create demonstration sites in other communities. However, I would say that there are other initiatives that might overtake this and perhaps change that plan going forward. So, yes, there's a plan. I'm not confident that that plan is the actual path forward. And I'm sorry if that's cryptic but this is we are going through, you know, some discussions and some soul searching about what we want to do in terms of integrated service delivery. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So we have a plan, but we might not use that plan, is what I'm now hearing.
So if we have a plan but we might not use that plan, I'm guessing that some soul searching has already happened in order to kind of get to the point where we can say yes, we have a plan but we might not use that plan. And so I'm wondering if it is the intent of this Minister to kind of share with this House what lessons have been learned in the course of the last almost four years as this department has very much worked hard towards integrated service delivery and I have nothing but good things to say about ICM and integrated case management. I've had the opportunity to work with them with constituents. They've been nothing but amazing and helpful. But this is definitely something that needs to expand outside of Yellowknife. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Thank you. I would love to see this in every single community in the Northwest Territories. I think that would be great if we had people that could, you know, assist clients in need everywhere. So thank you.
Thank you. Did you have further questions? Okay. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, in regards to the work that needs to be done to do this soul searching on this plan that might not be used, is there a staff member dedicated to this work, or staff members dedicated to this work, and if so, where within the main estimates do they live? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Thank you. So one of the issues here is that this budget is this budget. In this budget, there is not funds to expand integrated case management to other jurisdictions or other areas in the territory. So I can't speak for what the next government will do so that is why I say there's a plan. Will it happen? I'm not sure. If I was around, I think I might go in a different direction. I can get the deputy minister to expand on the Member's question, though. Thank you.
Thank you. Deputy minister Doolittle.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, there is one person, territorial director dedicated to integrated service delivery. That is cost shared between the seven social enveloped departments. This person recently did some engagement with Indigenous governments in January and early February on, you know, whether there is intent to partner and establish regional integrated service delivery sites to integrate services both offered by GNWT and our partners. So this is something we're engaging with and we're looking to have a report available later in April. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you so much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, the director, are they in directorate? Are they in community justice? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Directorate. Thank you.
Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. And my next question is this work and this position best placed within the Department of Justice, or would it make more sense for this position and this work to be placed within EIA if it is if the intent is an allofgovernment approach that needs some teeth in order to move people in that direction? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
