Caroline Wawzonek

Mr. Chair, philosophically, I would say that I am fully in favour of improving reintegration of individuals to their community and reducing recidivism for all individuals who come into conflict with the law, whatever nature it might be. How we do that is much more complicated. That is the real nugget of the whole matter, Mr. Chair. I fully expect that I will continue to get questions and should get questions about how we are reintegrating, how we are reducing the rates of recidivism, how we are reducing the rates of contact with the justice system in the first place. I did make a very large...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this point, again, given that this is a program from the Department of Lands, I'll have to work with the Department of Lands and the Minister of the Department of Lands to ensure that, in fact, that program is being adequately supported and not under-resourced so that we are, again, being proactive and not simply responsive after the fact. I will commit to having that conversation. I will commit to giving it that analysis, and I am confident that we can all work forward over the next couple of weeks to determine if this is the right expenditure of resources. Thank you...

I apologize. I am not sure I know what numbers this Member is referencing, so I am at a bit of a disadvantage on this particular point. Grants in lieu, there is a very careful policy, a detailed policy, that the government uses to establish what is owed to municipalities under the grants in lieu. It is a process that uses independent assessors to identify the proper amounts. It's something that is paid to all communities. It's paid to all communities, and it's budgeted for, and so there really should not be long-term surprises in the course of grants in lieu. It's an important aspect of...

Mr. Chair, I believe that the Northwest Territories is full of incredibly qualified people across all of our communities, who can contribute tremendous things to the GNWT and to their communities in a variety of capacities.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The RCMP is responsible for their own hiring processes. What I can do, Mr. Chair, is continue to meet regularly, quarterly, as I do, with the commanding officer here locally to continue to encourage them within their processes to do recruitment. As I mentioned earlier, there is, I believe, a dedicated individual here in the Northwest Territories who does do recruitment processes, goes into the communities and engages with individuals. As they are doing that, obviously, the more individuals are being recruited here from the Northwest Territories, the more they are in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sorry, Mr. Chair; I will get that right before the next two hours. Mr. Chair, the evaluation is now complete, and I can at least so far confirm for the Member that it is in my hands, and it's a question now of turning that around through the right processes so that it can be shared properly; I would think, I'm hesitant to say that it will be before the end of the current sitting of the Assembly, but that's at least my target date. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. At the moment, in terms of just individuals who are adults in the North Slave, it appears that we have eight. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This was an attempt on the part of the Department of Justice to identify and to review what the program of Lands was and to see what services would be required to Lands in order for them to be successful in their program. For example, there was initially determining if an individual has an Indigenous right to the land that is at issue. That is not often an uncomplicated process, legally. Then, also, as the program from Lands rolls out, to support the Department of Lands in terms of seeking to have somebody removed if they are, in fact, unauthorized in their occupancy...

I did take your full note, as the Member was speaking earlier, I can't confirm that those are indeed the changes that are being contemplated to reduce the fees.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That number was derived from a range, looking at 248 active participants. It would be roughly about 130 or so. That's just me making a guess without a calculator. Thank you, Mr. Chair.