Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Justice.
Being a returning Member, I remember back to the 15th Assembly. I received a number of phone calls. I know North Slave Correctional Centre is located in the riding of Kam Lake. Not a week went by when I didn’t get a phone call from an inmate incarcerated at that facility. Since the election last year those phone calls have evaporated into nothing. I don’t receive phone calls from North Slave Correctional Centre anymore. I’ve heard through various channels that the Department of Justice implemented a policy at North Slave Correctional Centre that told inmates they couldn’t phone their Member of the Legislative Assembly.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice when this policy came into place at North Slave Correctional Centre. Is it applied across all the other correctional facilities in the Northwest Territories?
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular issue was raised at the 15th Assembly. The request came from a Member at that time who didn’t want inmates to be calling him. It was at the request of the Member that the government initiated a policy pertaining to that event.
At the current time I did hear complaints from Regular Members, new Members of the 16th Assembly, so we followed through with that. I did write a letter to each Member highlighting if they’re open to their riding inmates calling them. It was an option I threw out to them. Certainly, we’re listening to the Members. They gave us concerns, and we’re following through with that. That’s what occurred in the 15th Assembly. Mahsi.
If I hear the Minister of Justice correctly, a Member — it could be a current Member or it could be a former Member — complained to the Minister of Justice during the last government and said they didn’t like getting calls from inmates. So the government, in its wisdom, decided that no inmates can phone any of their MLAs. I’m glad to hear the Minister say that.
Now, I guess the policy is being looked at again. If Members want to receive phone calls from inmates who are their constituents, we’re to give our number and tell the Minister of Justice or North Slave Correctional or South Slave correctional or wherever that may be that it’s okay for inmates to phone us.
Mr. Speaker, something’s wrong with that. From my perspective, all of our names are in a phone book, on the Internet. If an inmate or a constituent or whoever wants to phone us, we should be accessible to everybody, whether they are incarcerated or not.
We at the Department of Justice, and also Corrections, recognize the importance of having a communication dialogue, whether it be between the inmates and their MLAs or the parents and so forth. Those were the issues that were brought forward by a Member. They want to have contact with their inmates if there are issues, so certainly we are allowing that to happen now.
We are asking all 19 Members, if there are inmates from their ridings wishing to make a call to them, that they give us their blessing, and certainly that will be open. There may be some Members who may not want the inmates to be calling them. We’re not sure. We don’t know to that degree, but certainly if Members can get back to us at the department, then we can move forward with amending the policy that we currently have in place. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Again, if I’m hearing the Minister of Justice correctly, if we want to entertain phone calls from inmates, we’re to let the Minister of Justice or the Department of Justice know that our name and number can be provided to inmates so they can phone us. Is that correct?
Mr. Speaker, those are the issues at hand. In order to amend those policies we currently have in place, the Members have raised those issues. We do allow a telephone privilege for inmates to call their MLAs. There are phone numbers listed within Corrections so they can call their MLAs. We do have that information for those inmates at Corrections. Certainly, if the Members want us to amend that policy, we’ll grant the wish of the committee members. That has been in the works since the last Assembly, but now we’re in a new Assembly, and we can take on the task. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I would like to thank the Minister of Justice for that. I don’t know how this place is operating lately, because if a Member comes and complains to you, all of a sudden you can change a policy. That doesn’t make much sense to me.
I don’t remember this issue going through. I don’t remember this issue going through caucus. I don’t remember it being brought up anywhere, except for maybe somebody complained to the Minister of the day, and the Minister took it upon him or herself to say: hey; no more inmates are going to be able to phone their MLAs.
There’s something wrong with that. Again, I’d like to ask the Minister if he can change the policy. Like I said, I think whether you’re an inmate or not, you should be able to call your MLA.
That initiative is underway. I did ask all Members where they stand on inmates calling them in their respective ridings. This had been decided upon in the 15th Assembly. Whatever decisions there are, such as this, we like to inform the committee members, which I’ve done. I’ve informed the committee members that if they feel confident that we need to change our policy, which I did…. They will eventually get back to me, get back to the department, and we’ll pursue it. I think the communication we’re having now is a great example of moving forward. Mahsi.
