Thank you, Madam Chair. We do have some beds at the Salvation Army but as soon as offenders or inmates are in our facilities, case planning begins. So their case manager works with the community that they're in or that they're going to. They also work with the integrated case management folks here in Yellowknife, or if not in Yellowknife, interagency services, to support finding people homes where they need to or a place to live. So that's all part of their case planning. And they don't they wouldn't send them out without addressing that issue. So thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.
Yeah, thank you very much, Madam Chair. This is public knowledge. It was in the media, and so I'm going to I'm going to speak to it here today.
When somebody is released to the Salvation Army, sometimes or any shelter across the territory, sometimes that's not either the right fit for that individual or relationships have already been broken, and that is possible, or maybe that facility is already full. When someone when a facility operates on a first come first serve basis and has policies to that effect, for Justice to step in and say okay, this person goes there, it's very difficult when you have competing policies. And so how does Justice handle that, and do they have the funds in order to mitigate that so that people aren't falling into a and I'm saying people aren't, but so that we can do or the government, rather, can do what it needs to do to support people to find stable housing so that they can be taken out of that cycle.
There are Members sitting in this House who get approached every fall by people in their communities who literally say almost time to go back to jail; it's going to get cold out. And this so this is a very well known cycle of people simply using the justice system to find housing. And so what is the justice system doing in order to actually provide that housing or that link to housing to stop that cycle if people are using a very expensive system simply to find a roof over their head? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Thank you. The corrections service has representation on the NWT transitional housing advisory committee. The committee is also represented by staff from the NTHSSA and ECE. The committee supports transitional housing for additional recovery program, which is a transitional housing program designed to provide aftercare services and supports to individuals returning from addictions treatment. However, I will say that whether you are being released from jail or you are just a resident who is not in jail, there's housing challenges in the territory for you. And so the department does not provide a house to inmates after they are released. We do provide some support for the transition, but we are not in the business of housing people after they are released. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I know that we don't have integrated service delivery. But it seems to me that people being released from our correction centres would be people who would be identified at being at high risk of falling through the cracks of the system, falling into chronic homelessness, and needing an extra hand and a case manager to actually help them through this. And I know that the Minister has said that there are case managers who can do this work, but I don't think these case managers are actually being provided the tools to properly do this work. And so I think that putting a little bit more effort and I know, Madam Chair, I'm out of time, putting more effort into this case management piece, I think would save this government a lot of money and would save a lot of residents a lot of heartbreak. So I'm just going to leave it there. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Are there any other questions under corrections? Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I heard the Member say there is about four or five inmates in Hay River, and that made me happy because I think at one point we were running an empty jail down there. Can the Minister just speak to I know the trend has been pretty much a steady decrease in inmates, and it's kind of perhaps plateaued. Some of that may be due to COVID. Some of that's due to federal bail changes. Just whether there's been any changes in the trend to how many inmates we have. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Thank you. So as of today, there are 82 adults and three youth who are incarcerated. There are at NSCC, there are 63 males, SMCC we have five, and at FSCC we have 12. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. It's also one of those kind of not something to celebrate that we have three youth in jail but sometimes that facility is also empty. I'm just wondering if the Minister can speak to whether when that facility has, you know, zero or one inmates that it still incurs the same amount of costs, or is it essentially just the guards will move over to NSCC, or is there kind of a fixed operating cost for that facility at all times whether it has inmates in it or not, the youth one? Thank you.
Minister of Justice.
Thank you. So the guards are trained in both the youth facility and the adult facility. And so if there are no youth, then the guards would be in the adult facilities. So we wouldn't be incurring those costs when there are no youth. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.
No further questions, Madam Chair.
Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. So in the last Assembly, and I know the Minister was there, there was a new Corrections Act that was passed, and it was one of the probably few and best pieces of legislation that was developed in a collaborative fashion with standing committee. There was a number of significant changes made to it as a result of concerns that had been raised. And there was to be sort of new complaint processes put in place, new training that was going to be made mandatory for corrections officers, and a whole bunch of things.
There was to be advisory committees set up for each of the correctional facilities. But I don't see any changes in staffing levels here. And I don't see you know, I guess there's some increase in corrections administration but nothing really in terms of facilities. So is there any additional funds in here for implementation of that legislation? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Thank you. So we have an additional position that is the investigations and standards office. So the director of investigations and standards I suppose, and that is a position that was created under the act. It's my understanding that although there was a collaborative effort, and Justice worked with the Regular Members to make improvements and to create new processes in the bill, there was no additional money added at that time. So we've been doing what we can internally, but we do have the one new position, and I believe the budget for that was $243,000. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks. So what budget line here reflects that additional funding in you know, that the staffing levels are flat? So did someone else another position was cut or something to make way for this new office; what happened? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Minister of Justice.
Thank you. Yes, funds were found within. And this position would actually not be found in this section because we want a separation between the corrections officers and the investigations and standards office. We don't want them to be, you know, reporting to the same people. We want there to be separation. So we can discuss that further as well once we get to that section. Thanks.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Can the Minister just let me in on that secret. What other section is that staff person found? Thanks.
Minister of Justice.
Thank you. I couldn't get away with it, hey? It's services to government.
Member for Frame Lake.
I trust this Minister so that's great. Look, thank you for that. And I trust most of the other Ministers; I love them all. But more seriously, there were to be these advisory committees set up for each of the correctional facilities, and I just wonder where we're at with those committees? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Thank you. Those have been a bit of a struggle to set up. There has not been the uptake that we would have hoped. I know that the one for NSCC I believe came together a little quicker than the other ones. So maybe I'll hand it to the deputy minister to see if she can provide us with an update of where they all are right now. Thank you.
Deputy minister Doolittle.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the Minister's correct. The one for NSCC is up and running, and the others we had a little bit more of a difficult time completing a full complement of membership, and we're working on that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. No, okay, for the one that is in place, is there any kind of I don't know, it would be nice to know if there's been a news release or do they report, do they say anything I understand that probably some of it may be stuff that has to be communicated carefully or whatever to the department but and correctional managers or whatever. But how does the public kind of know that these things are actually up and going and what they do? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
I'll hand it to the deputy minister. Thanks.
Thank you. Deputy minister Doolittle.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, there certainly was advisement seeking membership for so the public is aware in that sense. With the board or the community advisory board being so new for the NSCC, they'll take some time to, you know, provide any communication that they think that's appropriate. However, with most initiatives for the NWT, certainly justice we do communications planning. So that I don't have the specific details but that would have occurred with this item. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Okay, no, thanks for that. Maybe I could just ask if the Minister could provide some details on the communications planning, at least to the MLAs that have correctional facilities in their ridings. I think that would be helpful for Members to get. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Yes, we can do that. Thanks.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
No, thanks. Appreciate all the information and the responses. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Are there any further questions under Justice? Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. We're on page 301 303? Okay, corrections, yes. I just want to ask the Minister if they have data. I know that the from the health status report in 2018 from 2018, the crime rate, Tlicho region had the highest rate. But in NWT, it had the highest crime rate. But is there any data that you guys have, like recent data, on which community, which area has the highest crime rate in the NWT?
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
