Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today in my Member’s statement I talked about something that is not easy to talk about because it’s something that is in our communities, but it is a very insidious thing and it’s hard to get information about it. It’s hard to create awareness, because I personally have not heard of any public campaign to bring awareness of this issue of this Rohypnol or date rape drug. Mr. Speaker, I am going to direct my questions today to the Minister of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, the thing that makes this so difficult is the combination of factors that allow this crime to be perpetrated on innocent victims without much opportunity to respond to it. Mr. Speaker, a lot of people who may be the victim of such a thing aren’t aware of what they should do in order to protect evidence. Sometimes, Mr. Speaker, days go by, reducing the quality of the evidence if they did know what to do with it. Mr. Speaker, the other thing is, it’s extremely difficult for the victim to articulate what happened because the effect of the drug actually makes them unable to relate that to the authorities. Mr Speaker, of course, anytime something like this happens, it’s very difficult for the victim to talk about it, because quite often under the influence of this drug, the victims are assaulted in some way.
So, Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Justice does he have any way of finding out throughout law enforcement authorities exactly how prevalent this is, understanding that quite often these cases never come to the conclusion of people being successfully prosecuted in the courts. But just through the enforcement authorities in the Northwest Territories, would we be able to get a sense of how common this particular crime is committed? Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I am glad the Member is raising this key point of interest. It is important to the Justice department working along with the RCMP “G” Division. We have a Victim Services Program in the communities. That’s just one step, Mr. Speaker. Also we are trying to create some awareness in the communities. We have various websites through Health and Social Services and our Department of Justice linking to various programming that is available throughout the Northwest Territories, but we continue to improve in our program. We have community justice programs, as well, that could be related. Not only that, Mr. Speaker, we need to start from a young age, as well, in schools. One good factor is those individuals are going to be involved in programs such as Going Miles, which builds self-esteem, and a new campaign called Not Us!, which is going to be happening at the end of March in Hay River. So those are the things that we need to be fully aware of and it is awareness that we continue to push in the communities. Mahsi.
A lot of the awareness that is out there right now is to try to make young people aware of the dangers of drugs, and they are drugs that people sell to them that these people take. But, Mr. Speaker, this date rape drug is something quite different in the fact that a person could just be innocently at a social function or at a public establishment and could have this put right into their drink. Mr. Speaker, so this is a little bit different; the awareness on this. The Minister mentions victims services. I would like to know are the victims services committees in the communities specifically aware of the signs, symptoms and affects of this particular problem? Thank you.
This particular area, whether it be date rape drugs or other drugs, I wouldn’t say most of the communities are aware of it, but some communities are aware. They are somewhat aware of this particular drug that’s out there and other Ecstasy drugs and other hardcore drugs out there. It is a common concern for our Department of Justice, so we continue to work closely with “G” Division. Mr. Speaker, we have a new commanding officer who is very dedicated to community involvement, community initiatives. He’s been in a small community as well, so he’s fully aware of what’s happening in the community. We need to have our hands on the drugs that are coming in. I think we’re doing that in the South Slave with the dog handler and in other areas. But we do have particular programs in place that are trying to assist with those victims as well.
Is the Minister aware, in his role as Minister of Education as well, of any campaign in the schools to warn children, young people, of the threat of being drugged by someone else? I understand that we talk to young people about the negative effect of taking drugs and what can happen to them, but how do we teach them to protect themselves from somebody who would drug them and subsequently hurt them and assault them in some way?
I’m glad the Member is raising that issue about the schools. It is a key factor in the schools. We have workshop facilitators who come out every now and then to highlight the use of drugs and the implications; what to look out for. Even myself as a parent, I have five kids in all schools and we talk to them about the use of drugs, to stay away from certain people, certain resources. I think this is an important factor that we continue to push in the schools, the public awareness. Especially with “G” Division, the committees that we have in place, Justice and so forth.
This is a top priority for us in the schools as both the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and Minister of Justice. This is a priority for us.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Education if this government would be amenable or open to the idea of funding some kind of awareness campaign and, hand in hand with that, a support group. My fear is that these incidents happen in isolation and no one ever knows anybody else that it happened to. They have absolutely no support. The isolation from an event like this and the fallout throughout the rest of their life thinking about this is one of the most damaging things. Certainly the act of violence or assault is very, very difficult too, but the fact that they don’t have that support. Would this government be interested in instigating any kind of a support group for people who feel that they may have been affected or know they have been affected by being drugged by someone else?
This is a particular area of interest for us. We are open to what the Member can share with us and the public-at-large on how we can improve in our programming. We did commit up to $100,000 last budget to focus on the drug campaign. That’s why we’re driving this awareness in Hay River next month. That’s just one milestone that we’re doing. There are others that the Member is referring to that we can certainly look at. I think the input from the public is greater interest for us, as well, to initiate certain initiatives.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
