Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm assuming this is where the community safety officer pilot is being funded, so maybe I'll ask about that. I just see where the pilot project has found itself. I know it's still under review but how is it going? Thank you.
Minister of Justice.
Thank you. So from -- by all accounts, the pilot project is going well. I hear good reports on -- you know, anecdotally about what's happening. I'm not sure if the deputy minister has anything to add, but I'd like to hand it to her. Thank you.
Deputy minister Doolittle.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The department -- things are going well. There's training with the community safety officer program, applied suicide intervention skills, de-escalation. So we are working with the community and the program to train them and support them as well as we are continuing to gather monthly reporting measures on the progress of the pilot, including community partnership and activities, program calls for support, and RCMP calls for service and prisoner count, so collecting statistics as well to keep track for a future evaluation. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Range Lake.
Thank you. And when is the planned evaluation going to be completed? Thank you.
Minister of Justice.
Thank you. So the evaluation would be winter of 2026. Thank you.
Member for Range Lake.
Thank you. And what kind of metrics are we looking at to determine if it's a success? Like, is it a number of -- I guess I'll just ask that. Like, what metrics are we looking for to inform that evaluation? Because I'd like to see these programs continue. I think they have borne fruit in other jurisdictions, and I'm really -- I hear, again anecdotically, it's going really well but, like, what practically do we need to see before we expand this to other communities? Thank you.
Minister of Justice.
Thank you. So some of the metrics are things like the calls for service received by the community safety officers and the calls for service for the RCMP, has this had an impact on their calls for service. How many nights are people spending in cells, RCMP cells. These are the types of things that we would hope the program would help to address. Anything further I should add? Maybe I'll hand it to Mr. Bancroft; he might have some more information. Thank you.
Mr. Bancroft.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The only additional statistics I would add is local crime statistics which are reported on a monthly basis with the RCMP and to local government. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Range Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So I'm assuming if we see those things go down that the program would be a access. So that's good to get awareness of that. I would say, though, there might be another way to look at it that if the CSO might reveal there's more of these incidents rather than less just because there's another body, you know, providing community policing so there should be some nuance, I think when you do the evaluation, to make sure that it's not like, well, things keep going up and we have a CSO so the CSO wasn't effective. So I guess I'll wait eagerly for this report -- or sorry, the eventual evaluation.
So the pivoting to the gun and gang strategy. I know this is a federal contribution that is to assist our community policing towards this. We've heard -- well, not anecdotically but statistically that gun crime is on the rise and has been for the last couple of years. The Standing Committee on Social Development just received a presentation from a local landlord with some pretty frightening imagery and anecdotal evidence -- well, and statistical evidence as well that this is something that is present in the capital. We know it's present everywhere. So what are we doing with this funding to protect our communities? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Justice.
Thank you. So this is being used for a number of different initiatives. So one example would be that the department, the department of MACA, health, and along with the RCMP, contributed to bring the Odd Squad to the territories to provide 14 drug awareness presentations to youth in nine different communities. The department is looking to fill justice navigator positions to help support system navigation and case management for individuals being released from custodial sentences. And there's also funding for -- to top up some youth centres to help address -- give kids a place to go. Because when you're wandering around, that's when trouble can start. So those are some of the examples of where the money's being put. Thank you.
Member for Range Lake.
Thank you. And I appreciate that -- yeah, especially that youth piece is really important, and I'm glad to see that we are finding ways to use funding for gang prevention and it's targeted towards youth. But I guess my concern is, like, we have -- war zone's probably too much of an embellishment but, like, we have an increasingly -- increasing incidents of violence on the streets of Yellowknife. I see it all the time because of here, in the apartment buildings, especially where there's concentrations of poverty. So on the gun part of this, I guess the organized crime front, are we doing more -- are we providing more resource to those efforts? I know we have the crime reduction unit at headquarters, but that's much more of a taking on the big fish kind of guys, the organized crime piece. The boots on the ground piece I think is what a lot of people are looking for to feel safe. And is any part of -- well, and not even this funding, but the entire division that does community justice, how are we using these resources to enhance that kind of community policing and the community policing of having, you know, police officers ready and able to react expediently to concerns and, you know, catch people before they -- or catch gangsters before they're committing violent acts against our citizens. Thank you.
Minister of Justice.
Thank you. So this is $800,000 a year for the next few years, and so it's not a lot of money to put a lot of boots on the ground per se. One of the other items I failed to mention that this is funding is a safety analyst position and -- yes, in this division, I guess. And so that's going to help identify where we could put more resources or how we can better utilize our resources.
I'll note that the crime reduction unit, you know, the Member said it's to go after the big fish, I wouldn't necessarily say we have any big fish in the territory when it comes to organized crime. We get a lot of the flunkies and some of the folks who couldn't cut it down south perhaps get sent up this way. And so it is to deal with the day-to-day organized crime, the folks on the ground actually, you know, causing harm to our residents that we are looking at addressing with this funding. Thank you.
Member for Range Lake.
Thank you. No, and, you know, we have to tackle all. This is just the -- the kind of underlying stuff, the underlying conditions of crime, the poverty, the drug addictions, all that, like, there needs to be a broader thing but we do need these resources in place because the problem's gotten just as bad. So I do appreciate that, and I think all those flunkies report back to someone and they, of course, get resourced by people in southern Canada sending them here to cause mayhem in our communities.
Is this where we could find a resource to put social workers or people with those kind of skill sets on patrol with police or community safety officers? That's a model that's had success in the past, Madam Chair. It's something that I know during the election we were asked about, and it's something I certainly support. But it seems like resourcing that is always difficult because our Minister of Health and Social Services will tell us that the social services is stretched pretty thin anyway. So could we -- as we've been flexible with some of this funding towards youth programming and other things, could we find some money here to pilot that kind of project or support that? I know the RCMP are supportive as well. Thank you.
Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So in this pot of money, it is subscribed. Often when we get these funds from the federal government, there's an action plan that we're required to submit and then we all sign off on it. And so that's -- that work has been done. And so in this, you know, $800,000 which might sound like a lot, there's not a lot of free money to stand up a program like the Member's talking about although I have tasked the Department of Justice and health on working together to look into figuring out how we can bring one of those programs to the territory. Thank you.
Member for Range Lake.
Thank you for that. Thank you, Mr. Premier -- thank you to the Premier, Madam Chair. The men's healing program, real quick, how are the numbers looking for that? I know this is something the Minister and I worked with -- worked on way back in the day, and it's definitely important to our communities and to -- and in particular Indigenous folks who are, you know, as much victims in the system and cycle of violence as anyone else. This is a really good thing. I'm glad to see it in here but is it seeing success? Thank you.
Minister of Justice.
Thank you. Yes, the men's healing program, it's gone through some changes since it was first introduced. We've allowed -- or made multi-year agreements available and so for a number of years, it was fully subscribed. Perhaps I can get Mr. Bancroft to speak on this one and talk about some of the numbers involved and -- yes, I'll leave it at that. Thank you.
Mr. Bancroft.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the agreements that we've signed with Indigenous governments for the men's healing program, one of the things we heard back was consistency of funding. So we've gone from one-year agreements to two-year agreements to ensure that there's more consistency with that funding in the communities. So just to recap for 2024-2025, we've contributed $653,000 over seven different funding initiatives. And for next year, we have $520,000 over the same organizations. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Now, I have Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. Public Safety Canada, where this place -- the program is piloted still, so I just wanted to ask about the crime rate where this program is being piloted. What's the crime rate like now that since they have this program in their community? Hearing of crime of -- you know, of things that's happening in the Northwest Territories especially where there -- we don't have this public safety program or piloted project, Fort Smith. We hear crime in Hay River, Yellowknife, Behchoko, you know, along the highways. And my colleague's from her -- in her riding too as well, you know, but we don't have this so I just wanted to know what is the crime rate like where this program is being piloted? Thank you.
Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So across the territory, including in Fort Liard, the crime rate is increasing. The number of calls for service from the RCMP are increasing. And so despite the fact that we have some community safety officers in this community, similar to how we have additional RCMP officers in some communities it doesn't necessarily mean the crime rate is going to be reduced. In many instances, they're fighting an uphill battle.
That being said, the community safety officers do do a lot of work. They responded to 600 incidents from September 2021 to December 2024, things like providing safe rides, mental health checks, supports for people who are intoxicated maybe just walking down the street. Those are important things that, you know, do impact the crime rate and public safety. They work with the RCMP on check stops. They've provided assistance during floods and wildfire evacuations, supporting elders. And so there's more to what this group does than just the numbers reflected in the crime rate. I just wanted to get that out there. Thank you.
Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. Yes, I know in many of the small communities we've been hearing lots since, you know, the drugs. We have a lot of drug issues, addiction issues. Before it was always alcohol but it's not as much. Everything is associated with drugs now. So even in my community, we have security, peace officer. I'm not too sure if they are being funded through territorial or through federal, but I want to ask the Minister -- or the Premier to see if there's a plan in place to extend this pilot project to other communities in the NWT in the future. Thank you.
Minister of Justice.
Thank you. So there's a couple of factors there. I don't believe those positions the Member referenced in her community are funded by the Department of Justice. But when looking at whether or not to expand this program, we need to look at how well it's working, and so there is the evaluation that will be undertaken. And we also need to look at available resources. And so right now I believe this is -- was initially 100 percent funded by the GNWT. The federal government did come in in 2023 and contributed 52 percent of the total cost, and so about a 50/50 split with us. We have just learned from the federal government that we will no longer be eligible for any federal contributions for community safety officers after next year. And so that sort of hinders our plan and ability to expand this program to additional communities. Thank you.
Member for Monfwi.
Okay, thank you for that information, Premier, or -- yeah.
Another one too is, you know, there's a lot of good programs in here that I know -- like, the men's healing program. There's a lot of programs here that I know my community access, that they use to help our young people even, like -- and I really do appreciate the friendship centre, Tlicho government, and then TCSA. All these organizations, they are doing their best to help our young people. Not just the young people, but the unhoused people, people with the addictions. So I'm sure -- you know, like, some of these programs here, we see it in the community, which is good. So with that in mind, like, some of these programs are there year-to-year basis, or is there a multi-year agreement for some of these programs? Because they are very useful and -- like, the men's healing program, we have that in our community. You know, like, we have that in other communities. And there's other things that the community are doing to help fight the crime, you know, especially against drugs and alcohol. And there's a lot of things that are happening in our small communities. And even with -- with what happened in the news recently, there was 33 that was -- a 33-year-old charged, you know -- it was in the news where pimping a 13-year-old or 15-year-old girl. So if that's happening, like what's happening in small communities, we are not too sure, but that's different topic. But it's just that many of these programs, it's very useful and I'm glad that the Indigenous government or organizations are implementing and providing programs that they think will work for their people instead of -- just like the Minister said that, you know, it's -- they're taking it all -- you know, they're taking it upon themselves of helping their people. So it's good. You know, I like that. But it's just that the multi-year, you know. Like, it would be nice if we had a -- like, a multi-year because I think there are some program that, you know, it goes from year to year and they're not too sure -- because they're doing so well that they're not too sure if they're going to be funded next year, you know. So that's what we're looking for is that, a multi-year to reassure the community that they can carry on and, you know -- because it says that, you know, according to the residential school survivor that to be healed, it's going to take seven generations. And I think we've passed some of the seven generations and -- so, you know, we don't know the stats. And when we look at it in a community, the problem is still there. It's beyond seven generations. So that's why I'm just asking if there -- if it's year to year and/or multi-year. I think the multi-year is more beneficial for many of the community members, organizations. Thank you.
Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And for the most part, we have multi-year agreements. That being said, we do want to be flexible and sometimes communities only want a single year agreement. And so we are open to working with the communities to determine how to best support them. So, for example, we moved the men's healing fund to a multi-year agreement. And I know that's been appreciated for the reasons the Member has stated. And, yes, we're going to -- we'll continue to be as flexible as we can given any restrictions that the federal government might put on any of these funds that are part of a federal agreement, but thank you.
Member for Monfwi.
There's three legislations that's outstanding -- I know it's going to pass, but do you know, like, SCAN legislation, do you know when it's going to be introduced in the House to pass? Because I know a lot of people have been asking. A lot of people are -- even I'm sure the housing Minister have heard lots too, you know, like who are the tenants. And we've been getting a lot of phone calls too from tenants. So I think they want some action right away. They keep asking, like when is it going to be passed. So, you know, like, is there a timelines of when this legislation will be introduced and passed to implement? Thank you.
Minister of Justice.
Thank you. So right now the plan is to, in the spring, go and do public consultation and then produce a legislative proposal by the summer and after that is approved, we can start drafting a bill which means the bill could be introduced in the winter sitting of next year. So either the February/March or maybe the May/June sitting. And then it would be with committee. So it would be sometime next year hopefully that it would be passed. And it's -- you know, it is painfully slow often, the development of legislation, because it is complex, there's loss of research that needs to happen and, you know, we have limited resources. So I think that all of us would have liked to get some of these pieces of legislation done the first year. Unfortunately wasn't the case. Thank you.
Member for Monfwi.
