Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For many years the community of Tsiigehtchic has been asking for an RCMP detachment in the community. I would like to ask the Minister of Justice, it has been over six months now that we had a commitment that we would have the RCMP start overnighting in the community.
How many times since that commitment has the RCMP overnighted in Tsiigehtchic? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister of Justice, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. We have had a lot of back and forth with the community of Tsiigehtchic on trying to identify accommodations. There have been some difficulties in that. We are hopeful that we can rectify those problems and we can have members overnight in the community of Tsiigehtchic, and I hope to see that happen sooner rather than later. This is something that I will make sure happens. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I know the policy is one of the issues, that we cannot have one person put in a community, like a small community like Tsiigehtchic.
So I would like to ask the Minister, will the Minister adopt the policy from Alaska which allows community officers in small communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I recently was at an FPT meeting in Banff where Ministers from around the country were discussing Aboriginal and First Nations policing and the fact that the federal government hasn’t been forthcoming with more funding to see community constables put into small Aboriginal communities across the country.
It’s not only an issue here in the Northwest Territories but it’s something other jurisdictions are struggling with as well. I believe I was the fifth Justice Minister from the Northwest Territories to sit around that table and let the federal government know that we’re not happy with the amount of funding that we’re getting. We want to see more funding. We want to see an opportunity to have Aboriginal people back in the communities doing police service, and that’s something we believe strongly in. We have four positions that are legacy positions we received funding for in the Northwest Territories, but we certainly need more funding to deliver First Nations policing and have communities work with communities to have a better policing service.
We have made great strides in working with communities and the leadership in communities on developing community policing plans and community safety plans, and that’s been a real benefit to providing that service in communities as well.
Will the Minister continue to rely on our bylaw and my constituents to do citizen’s arrests, or with the Minister solve our problems and approve a detachment for our community of Tsiigehtchic?
It’s our intent to continue to work with the leadership in the community of Tsiigehtchic and other communities around the Northwest Territories to ensure that they have the best policing service possible. In terms of a detachment, a stand-alone detachment, it could cost somewhere between $10 million and $15 million, and of course, we don’t have the capital today to see us do that. We are moving forward with plans to repair and bring up to speed a couple of other larger detachments in the Northwest Territories, including Inuvik and Behchoko, at this time.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
