Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Justice with regard to his Minister’s statement today. He mentioned there are two programs; and just before I begin I want to recognize that it is a great program. We have a lot of outstanding RCMP officers in the Northwest Territories who’ve taken this program and who have succeeded and become strong role models for other members and our youth.
The first question I wanted to ask him is: In selecting for the first program the two candidates that would go through this program, would he look at making it a priority if he can look at the smaller communities and take some of the youth through the small communities in terms of some of our small communities needing RCMP officers and also having a presence in the small communities? It would provide jobs, as well, outside of the regions and the capital, so it would be providing jobs and a presence in the smaller communities.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Aboriginal Community Constable Program is a fantastic program and it’s in its second year of piloting. I have had an opportunity to speak to the commanding officer of “G” Division and we all agree that we really would like to see somebody coming out of a small community going into this program. There are communities that would be able to facilitate an officer upon their return and this is the direction we would like to go. Ultimately it would be up to the RCMP who the final candidates are, and I encourage you and all the Members to get out and talk to the residents of your community and encourage them to approach the RCMP well before June 1st and submit their application if they’re interested.
I know it takes the responsibility of our Members and especially the ones in the small communities to bring this up and will be looking at youth who might be interested, especially the ones that are going through the Cadets Program. However, since this is an initiative through the Department of Justice, what type of marketing and recruitment has the Minister done in the small communities on his own, working with the RCMP?
Ultimately this is an RCMP pilot and it is the RCMP’s advertising. They are aggressively, actively advertising both the Pre-Cadet Program as well as the Aboriginal Constable Program. Recently I’ve had an opportunity to travel to some of the communities throughout the Northwest Territories, and every community I’ve went to I’ve mentioned that this program exists and I’ve encouraged people to apply. I’ve talked to the community justice committees in a number of communities, as well, and encouraged them to have people apply. The RCMP is actively marketing this program. It’s a good program and I hope to get individuals from the small communities. I hope they apply and I hope they get selected.
Would the Minister be willing to, once the youth go through this program, have this youth be working in a regional centre and taking one of the regular members and putting him into a community where there is no RCMP officer presence right now? Would the Minister be willing to bring that suggestion forward to the “G” Division to see if that’s a possible plan so that these small communities do have a presence, qualified presence in the communities?
Obviously it really, truly depends on who the candidates are and whether they’re successful through the program. We are willing to work with the RCMP and we are willing to try to find the appropriate location for the candidates when they do successfully complete. Whether that’s in a community with a large regional centre or whether it’s a smaller community with a detachment, that needs to be determined based on where the candidate comes from, what their interest is and what capacity they have. We will be working with “G” Division on this.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister mentioned that there is a second program here for those aged 19 to 29 to see if they would be willing to enter this program. Should he not get any response in that second program, would the Minister be willing to use that funding to offset any costs for further applications to the first program, and would he be willing to use the funding for that second program to make more people go through the first program if there is a waiting list and more applications were on there?
These are two separate programs. They are facilitated through the RCMP. The first program, the Aboriginal Community Constable Program, is in its second year pilot. We don’t know if that program is going to continue to exist after this second delivery. We would like it to and we continue to work with the RCMP and encourage them to continue this program because we see it as valuable.
The second program, the Aboriginal Pre-Cadet Program, that’s an ongoing program and the intake is actually completed for this fiscal year, but it’s an ongoing program so there will be intake in future years. We already have candidates in it during this May to August session. In fact, there is one candidate in Inuvik. We have had uptake on this program on a fairly regular basis over time. We hope that it will again and I will continue to promote the program, I will continue to work with the RCMP to promote the program, and I would like it if Members could work with us to promote the program as well. We want northern youth and we want Northerners to get involved in the RCMP. We see a significant opportunity here and we don’t want to miss it.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
