Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this fall the NWT Native Women’s Association raised the concern of unusually long wait times for RCMP to respond to calls in various communities. In events of this concern, it was suggested that this was more of a GNWT issue than RCMP. There is such a thing as emergency call logistics, contract services and language barriers. My questions today are going to be for the Minister of Justice.
Currently, the RCMP emergency call system for all communities is dispatched through Yellowknife. This seems to be a frustration point for many.
Can the Minister indicate why is Yellowknife used as a hub for emergency dispatch? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of Justice, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Operations and Communications Centre is located here in Yellowknife. It provides services to every community across the Northwest Territories. The centre currently has 21 employees, which includes four operators and one supervisor per 12-hour shift.
The OCC is able to make direct contact with at least one officer from each detachment across the Northwest Territories at all times. We have an operation that is centrally located. It’s the most cost-effective and efficient way to operate a very specialized 24/7 policing operation. Calls from communities are taken, as I mentioned, 24/7 by OCC and dispatched on a priority basis. If there is an urgent call, an RCMP officer will be dispatched. Non-urgent calls will be taken, recorded and dispatched when the next member becomes available. Urgent and priority calls are dealt with in a triage manner. There are specific OCC operators who are assigned to each area, north, south and in Yellowknife.
Establishing an OCC in other communities would be cost prohibitive due to factors such as the cost of specialized equipment, salaries, expansion of infrastructure, housing for employees and yearly operating costs. Recruitment and retention of these specialized positions is often difficult in Yellowknife and major centres across the country. Staffing these positions in smaller communities would be much more difficult as the positions are very stressful, require specialized training and high security clearances. Having administrative support in all detachments 24/7 to answer all categories of complaints would come at a very significant cost to the government. Thank you.
With that thorough answer, some of my questions are going to be almost answered. I will try to rework some of them here.
Clearly, having some form of auxiliary dispatch in communities, if not regions, I believe could better deal with language and urgency. We have just heard from the Minister that cost seems to be a prohibitive issue, but can the Minister indicate why has the department not explored this or alternative solutions for an improvement in RCMP response and wait times?
As I mentioned in my previous response, it is very difficult to recruit staff here in Yellowknife for those OCC positions because of the type of work, the specific skills required and the level of security clearance that’s required. Again, recruiting staff in smaller communities and regional centres is going to be even more difficult.
Recruitment of community members for auxiliary dispatch program could face similar or greater obstacles due to the lack of capacity in most communities, and the lack of willingness to volunteer, and high stress, high demand and occupations for no pay.
In the past, RCMP “G” Division has advertised and held career presentations in order to recruit and hire NWT residents as regular members and OCC operators with NWT official language skills. To date, the interest on this from the public has been low.
Establishing an OCC in other communities or regions would range from $1 million to $2 million, depending on the site selected and whether the centre is constructed new or whether it’s retrofitted. In addition, annual staffing and maintenance expenses would be estimated to cost well over $1 million. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, what we haven’t heard is a common theme, and that theme is language, and this has been a concern in communities where they feel that the delays in wait time are the barrier of language.
Can the Minister indicate to the House, what has improved with communication in our nine official community languages with respect to breaking down such barriers? Thank you.
To accommodate the translation needs, the department has arranged for the RCMP “G” Division members to have access to language line services, or CanTalk. It’s a 24-hour translation service for most languages, including many Aboriginal languages. In addition, OCC maintains a list of the languages spoken by “G” Division members and employees.
The RCMP “G” Division has on staff an Aboriginal person who is a recruiter specifically for the Northwest Territories. The role of the recruiter is to travel to communities and make RCMP career presentations to interested individuals. While there, there are many roles in the RCMP that are explained. The recruiter’s focus in the NWT is on regular member officers and OCC operators.
I should mention that since April of 2014 there have been 17 recruiting sessions held across the Northwest Territories in a number of communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT Native Women’s Association has challenged this Minister, has challenged his department with this call for action. Clearly, there is still concern regarding unusually long wait times with respect to RCMP calls to various communities. We have heard a very detailed forensic reply to a lot of the questions here today, but of course, there is still some concern.
What, if any, are the future steps of this government, and what is the Minister prepared to do to ensure that we can improve our response times for the public and safety of our community residents? Thank you.
The Government of the Northwest Territories is currently working with key stakeholders and industry to identify viable options for implementation of a territory-wide 911 system. This work will inform future decisions concerning 911 implementation in the Northwest Territories, and a draft implementation plan, I believe, is coming forward to this House before December of this year.
Of course, this topic is nothing new to Members. It was studied by the City of Yellowknife in 2008. The intent is to build upon that examination and to consider how we can implement such a system on a territory-wide basis. The examination will take into consideration all options involving the necessary infrastructure, resources, equipment, governance, funding, start-up and maintenance of a 911 system. A 911 response system would be part of a broader system. It is very important that we continue our efforts to strengthen civil emergency preparedness, fire protection, ground ambulance and highway rescue here in the Northwest Territories.
I may also recommend to the Regular Members, if they’re interested in a tour of the OCC and the operations facility, that we have at “G” Division here in Yellowknife. I would be more than happy to help arrange a tour of that facility for any Member that wants to take part in that tour and see the good work that the OCC puts in, in protecting our communities and our people.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
