R.J. Simpson

Thank you. This is a very new initiative; it just started. I'm not quite sure how far along it is. I don't think it's far along enough to be able to provide that type of information. I'm not sure if either of my witnesses has more information on this. I'd hand it to the deputy minister.

Thank you. And I believe in the Member's community in particular, there's been increases in the security classifications of inmates who are there. And those who are lower security classification are now going through the therapeutic model. And so definitely in that model there are opportunities to do what the Member is talking about. We have to take into consideration the fact that there might be a business who, you know, shovels people's driveways, and so they don't want to compete with government labour essentially that is being offered at no charge. So there are those things as well. But I...

Thank you. So far there have been 691 referrals to the program, and there are 98 active clients. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That's a big question. I'm not sure if I can put a price tag on how much it costs to reintegrate an offender. There's the practical considerations of depending on where the person is going back to. So if you're going back to Sachs Harbour, things are going to be more costly than if you're going to somewhere like Fort Smith. And because we've had relatively low numbers and the program is still relatively new, I can't provide an average cost or anything like that to the Member yet. But I'd be happy to ensure that the department does that work so that the next time the...

Thank you. So we have the budget for the previous year, let's say, and then the RCMP says we need more or we would like more resources here. Then we can work with them through our normal budget planning process to put those resources into the budget. So it's similar to other divisions of the government in that sense that it does follow the normal business plan process. Thank you.

Thank you. The department does receive a significant amount of federal funding for a number of different projects. Many of our initiatives are not funded by the GNWT solely but for the federal government and so we do understand the value of having federal partners, and the department is constantly looking for federal funds. You know, we've received some new funding through new agreements through those efforts recently. So, yes, we're alive to that. We would like federal funds. We're looking for federal funds all the time. Thank you.

Thank you. So I'll be happy to talk about policing once we get to the section on policing. And to the Member's earlier point about more probation officers and more people to work with individuals who need assistance, I don't think there's any denying that, you know, if we had more social workers, more case workers, more counsellors, more teachers, more everything like that, that we would be able to help people more. As it is, we are doing what we can with the resources that we have. Thank you.

Directorate. Thank you.

Thank you. So it is to provide funding to people who are being released to reintegrate into their community. So that is one example of how the money could be used. Thank you.

Thank you. I imagine that every time a new collective agreement is negotiated that there will be increases. The current collective agreement expires at the end of this month. Thank you.