Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to my colleagues for having this motion and on certainly supporting it to get it at least to this phase of the process. That said, Mr. Speaker, I've spoken at length about how important our RCMP are, and that's absolutely true, and I'll never change that, Mr. Speaker. At the same time, I'll also say that the RCMP, as they've acknowledged in this motion, and they've said themselves, you know, they're not social workers, and sometimes when the call comes in and they're the only one answering the phone, they cannot unanswer that phone. They can't let it ring and ring and hope somebody else will take it. It's unfortunate, but the situation is that. They are the last person to call and they can't turn around and say, call somebody else. So they end up showing up at many calls that aren't typically orientated on the type of service they are. I mean, there's a saying, as they say, if you're a hammer all you see is nails. Well, police officers are police officers to fight crime. I don't classify most of these mental health challenges as true crime. I think people are -- some people are in distress. Some of these situations are dynamic and fluid. They don't require a police officer. But unfortunately, if you call the police, you're going to get a police response.
The nature of this motion really is saying things like we want different type of people to talk to people, and we want people to talk to people. We want social workers, as an example, to work with somebody who is in some type of distress. I mean, showing up with cuffs and a truck and all of the other tools and utilities is the wrong impression when someone is having a difficult time. There is a time and place for those types of responses, absolutely. The stat given, I even highlighted it today in a different type of process in my Member's statement, where I pointed out 2,268 calls to shelters over a two-year window only resulted in 3 percent in actual charges. Again, that reaffirms or underscores the fact that the police really aren't there to respond to police-related emergencies. Again, they're probably called because of different challenges, shelters, and different types of situations where it's difficult to manage and they have no one else to call for help hence they call the RCMP.
My heart goes out to the job and sometimes the thankless jobs that they do. But, you know, if they're called because someone's not allowed in because a shelter's reached its capacity, it's after hours and they can't let them in, I mean, when the police are called, that's not a crime. I mean, it's a crime they can't get in and stay warm. It's truly a crime that they have nowhere to go. That's the real crime. But, I mean, when we call the police officer to show up, they have to put it on the books that they have a call. All they do is -- all the public sees is the police officers picking up someone who probably just needs somewhere to go. And I'm actually feeling frustrated saying this stuff, Mr. Speaker. I mean, you know, this is awful. You know, they don't like to wear these statistics. You know, as a matter of fact, you know, I get the feeling, you know, they feel very uncomfortable that they have to respond to these types of calls. But when they pick someone up in a condition that can't enter the shelter and, you know, we know addictions consumes a lot of people and a lot of families in terrible ways. But when they have to pick someone up, the resources are tied up with that individual because they just can't drop them off at the hospital. The hospital won't take them if they're in a very difficult state. In other words, the conditions of the addictions are managing their current situation. They can't drop them off down the street and say hey, we'll just drop you off in this area and be good, right? No, they can't. They have to take full carriage of that individual until they're able to manage themselves or their safety is no longer at risk or the public's safety is no longer at risk.
So ultimately, Mr. Speaker, it frustrates me seeing this happen. It frustrates me knowing sometimes we just have nowhere for them to go. And, again, maybe that's the crisis here, you know. It's a multifaceted issue, and I have every belief that the government can help rise to this challenge. We're never going to solve all the problems, but we certainly have to chip away at them and that's what I always say when I'm here being relentless. Like, I'm relentless. I don't care how many times you say no, I'll keep coming back because I'm fighting for that one yes. And that one yes builds to two, and two yeses build to three and, all of a sudden, we're changing the nature of our community.
So, Mr. Speaker, I get a really burning feeling inside and frustration and upset every time I think about that this is the way society currently thinks is best to manage people. I think it's probably almost the worst way to manage people. And I even mentioned it in committee one day, like, I would throw myself in front of the police door and not allow someone to say, well, we don't know where to put them, let's put them in an open-door cell. Like, that is the worst place to put people in crisis in trouble. They need somewhere to go. So not only this speaks to we have to find better ways to work with people, we have to find better ways to help people. And that's really what it's saying in different ways.
And I know the government knows this, and I know the Minister knows this, and I know the Minister cares about these things, and there's no comment here that the government doesn't care, and there's certainly no comment here that, you know, they ignore this issue. It's just we now have to find a new way of doing business. And on that note, Mr. Speaker, I'll leave what I've said so far is to open up discussion. I mean, I'm looking forward to hearing what my colleagues will say. But this truly is an issue throughout the territory, not just here. And unless I forget, I'll make sure I ask for a recorded vote now, so it's not forgotten. But I look forward to the opportunity, like I said, to hear my colleagues and their struggles and maybe even their solutions to this particular issue. And I'll close off debate at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First off, I want to thank all the committee members on this side of the House for their very rich and important and thoughtful comments. Mr. Speaker, a couple of them I want to highlight.
First of all, I'll start with the Member on my left, for Range Lake. These are the types of issues on his agenda, constantly raising with committee, trying to support community members. You know, and I often hear him say he recognizes the Mackenzie Delta Member who's dealing with his challenges in his community. I hear the Member from the Sahtu talk about the community impacts that drugs and alcohol are having, and we have to find different ways of doing this. Mr. Speaker, we could talk about every Member, but I think the Member of Deh Cho said it's an important creation of resources in their community, and she'd like to see the roll out of this in smaller communities. And I couldn't support it more, any more than that. I do fully, fully agree.
Mr. Speaker, crime is changing, and we have to respond to it differently, and I hate thinking -- I hate the situation where we treat all crime the same because social issues aren't crime. And unhoused and addictions are not crime in my view. I mean -- and, you know, we can talk about that until the cows come home, but the truth is I really don't believe that unhoused and addictions in any way is a crime. It's a crime not doing anything. And I know it's tough to solve all solutions, I want to stress that. But by doing nothing I think is truly the crime.
So, Mr. Speaker, this, as many Members have recognized, it's a tool. I recognize MLA for Frame Lake has pointed out there are models and options out there. I'll be the first to say don't just go by the option I'm presenting today. I'll say if there's a workable option to find ways, take it. It's not about -- sometimes debate isn't about trying to win, Mr. Speaker. And I refer to win an argument. It's about trying to find the best solution. Sometimes people get caught up -- hypersensitive about raising our voice and getting engaged in issues. But, really, debate shouldn't be an argument, it should be about how do we get the best result. And that's what hopefully this is really about, getting the best result for all ridings by all means.
So, Mr. Speaker, I'll close with thanking everyone. And I also want to thank the Premier in his comments. It sounded like he fully supported the motion. And I'm sure that's what I heard, and I'll have to go back to Hansard to confirm that one way or the other, so I'll do that on my own time. But that said, I was really -- we were all moved by his wonderful statements in support of these types of ideas.
So, Mr. Speaker, I've already asked for a recorded vote, and I'll leave it at that. And, again, I thank everyone for hearing this out and sharing today. Thank you.
The Member for Yellowknife Centre. The Member for Range Lake. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. The Member for Monfwi. The Member for Frame Lake. The Member for Great Slave. The Member for Mackenzie Delta. The Member for Yellowknife North. The Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. The Member for Deh Cho. The Member for Sahtu.
All those opposed, please stand. All those abstaining, please stand.
The Member for Thebacha. The Member for Yellowknife South. The Member for Kam Lake. The Member for Hay River North. The Member for Hay River South. The Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. The Member for Nunakput.
Colleagues, 11 in favour, zero opposed, 7 abstentions. Motion has passed.
---Carried
Motions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to kick off debate as I did earlier, but I probably won't spend as much time going through this one. This motion speaks for itself.
Communities, whether you live in a large one or a small one, are all starved for resources. We talked about the municipal funding gap at length. And this is just one more thing piled on to them that they need to respond to.
Mr. Speaker, the challenge is, of course, we know, first of all, it's money, so the resource of money is not there for these communities. Then you have the skills and abilities to do this. I mean, these are specialized expertise. This motion really does talk to the issue of MACA coordinating them for all communities, and then looking at them from a regional point of view and help -- and then tieing them together so they're consistent and then giving them, the communities, all communities, in a draft form, so then they can say, hey, my needs in Trout Lake are way different than my needs in Colville Lake, or my needs in Inuvik are much different than Yellowknife, or my needs are different in Smith than they are in Norman Wells. So, like, every community is very different but the concept and the expertise about asking the important questions, such as make sure you have this, make sure you know where these are, considering this an enormous undertaking. But it's the financial and expertise that, you know, when it comes to the money and know-how to build these things and give them to communities. We have to set these communities up for success. And that's the critical part about this, is leading and coordinating these initiatives and then giving them to the individual communities and say hey, this is important to me, these are our key resources, these are our partners, we agree with this. If they don't want the draft plan, Mr. Speaker, I wouldn't stand in the way of a community that says we don't want the draft plan. I mean if MACA -- but the thing is they go it alone then, and I don't want to see that. I want them to work in partnership. This is about collaboration and leadership. And it takes leadership from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs to help support and initiate these processes so they're ready, so they're done in a timely way, so we're not waiting too long. I mean, the complaints about our plans there, why are they different, why are they missing things. I mean, this would help resolve some of those issues and resolve confidence in our northern concerns, which is is my region, is my community ready? If it is ready, what does ready mean and what does ready look like? What does is it sound like? How does it trigger? What triggers this? How do we respond? So that's the kind of concept here.
I should stress it's not intended to force this on anybody and that's not the intent of this motion. So if anyone feels that their community, this would force it, this is not. It's meant about working in collaboration. And the bottom line is is it's about MACA picking up the tab, which really it belongs to, rather than on the individual citizens on that. So whether you live -- I mean, where do you get extra money when you live in Fort Providence? It's not sitting around there. That community government is struggling to keep water moving in those streets and, you know, doing the important things that communities do. There used to be an old saying dogs, ditches, and dumps. That's what communities should be focusing on. You know, the infrastructure of towns. But as times move on, processes become heavier and heavier, they give them more and more to do, and MACA says this is important, you must have these things. Well, when you say these things are important, they must be done, they must be funded too.
So, Mr. Speaker, that's to start off discussion. I look forward to the insights and ideas and suggestions my community members have. I'm open to them. And I certainly think that they would be help in any form to help get this motion through with the intent of this is about supporting communities, which ultimately is supporting people and making sure we're safe.
And lastly, Mr. Speaker, of course I'll be asking for a recorded vote so I may as well put that -- let the public know now. Cheers.
The Member for Yellowknife Centre. The Member for Range Lake. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. The Member for Monfwi. The Member for Frame Lake. The Member for Great Slave. The Member for Mackenzie Delta. The Member for Yellowknife North. The Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. The Member for Deh Cho. The Member for Sahtu.
To the motion as amended -- sorry. Any nays? No nays. Sorry. Abstentions to the motion as amended?
The Member for Thebacha. The Member for Yellowknife South. The Member for Kam Lake. The Member for Hay River North. The Member for Hay River South. The Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. The Member for Nunakput.
All in favour, 11. Opposed, zero. Abstentions, 7. Motion has been carried.
---Carried
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to request a recorded vote.
The Member for Yellowknife Centre. The Member for Range Lake. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. The Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. The Member for Deh Cho. The Member for Sahtu.
Those opposed, please stand.
The Member for Monfwi. The Member for Frame Lake. The Member for Great Slave. The Member for Mackenzie Delta. The Member for Yellowknife North.
Those abstaining, please stand.
The Member for Thebacha. The Member for Yellowknife South. The Member for Kam Lake. The Member for Hay River North. The Member for Hay River South. The Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. The Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, colleagues. Those in favour, 6. Opposed, 5. Abstentions, 7. Bill 8 has carried to the second reading.
---Carried
Both bills now stand referred to the standing committee. Second reading of bills.
