Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During my Member’s statement I talked about some of the illicit drug use in the Northwest Territories and how we have organizations outside of the NWT and within the NWT that are combating the drug dealers and drug use and high risk behaviours in the Northwest Territories.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice, with such incidents happening in the Northwest Territories and we’re seeing an increase of illicit drugs coming into the North by road, by plane, by boat, however it comes in, what is the Minister’s department doing to crack down on the influx of these types of drugs coming into the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for his question. Certainly, the prevalence of drugs in the Northwest Territories is something that is a very serious concern for us. We handle the enforcement of the drug trade through the RCMP “G” Division. They do an excellent job for us in trying to combat the amount of drugs that enter the territory. We’ve had some very high profile drug busts here in Yellowknife recently and also in Hay River. We also have the canine unit that helps in that regard as well. I know the RCMP work on a multijurisdictional approach because the drugs have to come from somewhere to get into the NWT. So the RCMP are continuously working with their counterparts in southern Canada and other parts of northern Canada to combat the illegal drug trade here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
I could get into more details in terms of drug use. This might come up as a written question at some point or the Minister could possibly give me a commitment to get some stats on how many of our crime-related offences are related specifically to illicit drugs that we don’t normally see in the Northwest Territories.
Would he be willing to get me that information or let me know what kind of percentage we are looking at for type of crimes committed in the Northwest Territories that are specifically associated and relate to illicit drug use? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We can certainly look at putting those statistics together for the Member and other Members of the House. Thank you.
Just recently in Inuvik, we opened up an emergency shelter that allowed more time for the RCMP officers to do other types of work rather than deal with public intoxication and things like that. Shortly after the emergency shelter kicked into effect, there was a big drug bust in the community, which meant that the RCMP had more time to actually conduct their business and go out and do more important work. With that said, we’re putting a lot of resources into all these crimes that are associated with illicit drug use. If we put more money into prevention, we can prevent the drugs from coming up here before we have to deal with the issue at hand.
Would the Minister be willing to provide more resources for airport checks and screening as well as access roads and screening to combat these types of issues, especially with transportation companies that actually bring up goods, not through the post office or mail system? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
During the winter months with the advance of the winter road season in the Northwest Territories, I do know the RCMP are very diligent on stepping up their efforts to look at drugs that are being transported on the winter road system in the NWT.
Also, we have the Not Us! campaign. Important to all of this discussion today in the House is everybody has a role to play in trying to stop the trade of illicit drugs in the Northwest Territories today. We have the Crime Stoppers program, as well, and people can anonymously, if they are aware of illegal activity in their community, a 1-800 number to identify that type of illegal activity.
Again, it is up to all of us to try to stamp out the trade of illicit drugs here in the Northwest Territories. I do know the RCMP do a good job for us and they are out there, but they certainly need all of our help in trying to combat illegal drugs in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to make reference to this TV program that I watch, it’s called Border Patrol, and they have an RCMP canine unit that goes around sniffing bags and things like that. We know when we’re getting people coming up to the North. When the ice roads go in, there’s a lot of traffic when that happens. The same with Inuvik when we have a big activity coming up, we have transportation vehicles coming to the Northwest Territories.
Would the Minister look at committing and dedicating those canine units at the busiest times of the year to do spot checks within our Northwest Territories communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I do know that those units are deployed, as the Member suggests, already. As far as a schedule or whatnot, again, I’d have to go back to the department. We wouldn’t want to publicize when a canine unit would be on a specific ice road here in the Northwest Territories, for obvious reasons. But certainly I do know that during the winter months, when the winter roads are in use, that the RCMP do step up their efforts on our winter road system. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
