Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to continue my questions to the Minister of Justice on the communities that do not have RCMP detachments. I want to ask the Minister if, being Christmas, we were to wish for a detachment in Colville Lake, what will it cost this government to have a position in Colville Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have that information at hand, but I’m happy to pull it together and provide it to the Member. Thank you.
I look forward to the information coming forth from the Minister. I want to ask the Minister, in his role as the lead Minister for the security and safety of the people, has his department put together a long-term strategic plan and put RCMP detachments in the 10 communities who do not have one today?
That would be done in cooperation with the federal government. We haven’t had that kind of specific detail, but we have been looking at alternative options, the options that I provided in an earlier response. We are having those discussions, but ultimately there is some federal responsibility here. Thank you.
I understand that it is a federal government responsibility and a huge chunk of that cost is on the federal government’s hands. I want to ask the Minister here, for these 10 communities without RCMP officers, we are going to look at projects such as the Deh Cho Bridge and we’re looking at putting additional dollars to that project. Why not to the communities without RCMP officers such as Tsiigehtchic, Nahanni, Wrigley, Kakisa, Colville? People are more important than steel and metal. I want to ask the Minister if he would go to his colleagues and say let’s put an RCMP detachment in those communities, because right now we’re going to discuss how we’re going to put more dollars into the Deh Cho Bridge. Can the Minister go to his colleagues and say we need to put RCMP detachments into a community, a bunch of people, for their safety? Would he do that?
I’ll certainly be talking to my colleagues about community safety and enforcement. It is a priority and I’ll continue to have those discussions with my colleagues. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you. I trust the Minister will work hard on behalf of the people in Colville Lake and the people without RCMP detachments who are looking to you for that type of support. Will the Minister work with his officials to look at increasing the patrols to the communities such as Colville Lake and bump up the security safety mechanisms so that the people know that they can sleep in peace?
The department already has been working with the RCMP in increasing the number and length of patrols in the communities. To that end, we have actually put an additional position, an RCMP position in Fort Good Hope to provide some coverage to Colville. But I understand there are still concerns in the communities, and I’m happy to go meet with the individuals in Colville Lake to talk about what they would like to do to address these problems, what community solutions they have, and from there we can build into some larger picture solutions. I’m looking forward to working with the Member and his communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
