R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't have that information. I don't know if individuals want to work at a wellness centre. I don't know the backgrounds of the individuals involved. I am not opening a wellness centre. There's no wellness centre in the Justice budget. Thank you.

Thank you. In 2019, prior to the pandemic, there were 318 drug violations. In 2022, there were 468. And so that's a significant increase. There are statistics that are released yearly about the policereported crime. And those show that between 2021 and 2022, there was an 80 percent increase in robberies, which are often things associated with drugs. In the past year, there what's been over a hundred percent increase in the number of drug seizures for the amount of drugs seized. So there's a significant increase that we're seeing. But also a significant response to that increase that we hope is...

Thank you. And those are all things that could be done by someone in that role. The extent to which they're done, I'm not sure. But the duties will be taken on by the executive director of the Legal Aid Commission with support from the other staff. And the Commission, from what I understand, feels confident that those duties can be absorbed and done without any disruption in service. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is nothing in this budget about a wellness facility in Fort Smith. There's no line items here. So I'm not replacing the facility with anything. We want to work with the community to access funding to do what the community would like to do and given this opportunity of a facility that does become available. Thank you.

Sure, thank you. And like I said, we've been adding RCMP officers every year since I've been Minister. I have to check the stats, but I would say this budget shows the largest increase in RCMP officers in my time. In particular, the First Nation and Inuit Police Program has seen a significant increase. We used to have four officers under that program. That is a program that is cost shared differently. Generally, we pay 70 percent of the costs for RCMP, and the federal government pays the other 30 percent. With the First Nation and Inuit Policing Program, the federal government pays 52 percent...

Thank you. What is being reduced is an administrative position essentially, the position that would assign files to panel lawyers when required to do so as well as perform other duties. What remains is a budget for, I believe, seven panel lawyers experienced in dealing with children's law and family law matters. Thank you.

Thank you for that. And so we have the other facilities in the territory. So there's still a women's correctional facility in Fort Smith. There's South Mackenzie Correctional Centre in Hay River. And there is North Slave Correctional Centre in Yellowknife. And there are vacancies in those units. And the impacted employees, the affected employees, will have first dibs essentially on those jobs. And we have paused hiring until after this budget to ensure that those positions remain open for those individuals. As well, I will note that correctional officers are skilled workers. They go through...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So we have a number of ways that we are doing that. We can go back to decades and look at the restorative justice approach that the NWT really embarked on before many jurisdictions in Canada. I know the RCMP do their best to divert offenders away from the criminal justice system toward the restorative justice system. That system is highly dependent on community involvement. Those boards are made up of volunteers from the community who will work with offenders to figure out ways to help rehabilitate them without putting them into the criminal justice system. And so there's...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I agree with all those comments by the Member, and the solution will be driven by the community. Thank you.

I'd like to hand it to Mr. Bancroft. Thank you