Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to highlight some of the successes the RCMP are having in their efforts to curb the supply of illegal drugs coming north into our communities. It should be no surprise to anyone that all Northerners have come to see the members of our RCMP as significant pillars of our communities.
Now, outside of the world-class symbol of service policing and community involvement that we all know very well, much of their work is largely done behind the scenes and gone unnoticed like a well-oiled machine.
This, in my view, is a clear testament to the high degree of quality of service so many of these members do in their day-to-day work without the average person’s life being interrupted. Because we live in a world that has little interruptions, we tend to forget how quickly how much of this work is done to keep things the way they are.
So from time to time we should remind each other about the critical and dangerous work we rely on to keep our homes and communities safe. So today I want to acknowledge the work that our RCMP members in the drug gang section actually do.
As many of us know, our “G” Division RCMP has a five-member drug section and canine unit who are responsible for implementing the Drug Strategy. The NWT Drug Strategy has been very successful so far in stopping the distribution of drugs into Yellowknife and other NWT communities.
This strategy has vastly improved the coordination of community and territorial resources. The strategy is also underpinned with a focus which includes responding to organized crime and gang activities. As well, the RCMP have worked hard to develop the number of informants that work with them as their eyes and ears on the ground. With that said, they continue targeting the recruitment activities of gangs and they are improving the access to intelligence information.
What is often little known is RCMP members collaborate with health and social services partners and government and NGOs across the NWT. Each year, they lead the DARE training for 300 children between the ages of eight and 10 years old. The RCMP have increased the number of vehicles stopped, programs which have proven to be very successful in revealing drug and alcohol violations. However, the NWT number of drug trafficking continues to increase, but equally, Mr. Speaker, the RCMP continually work hard successfully to meet those challenges.
In the first half of 2009, there were 147 incidents of drug trafficking, which resulted in 38 charges being laid. In the same period, there were 168 possession charges, with 46 charges being laid.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. For example, just four weeks ago, two men from Calgary were arrested within a short period of time of showing up here in Yellowknife on charges of trafficking crack cocaine. In the end, this continues to be a great reminder that we have the best people working hard to keep these activities off our streets.
In closing, I am profoundly grateful that we have these men and women who want to do this tough job of law enforcement and the work they do is a job very well done. I am sure Members will agree with me that these people deserve our respect and support as they carry on their assignments to reduce the amounts of illegal drugs and alcohol showing up in our communities. Mr. Speaker, I admire the work they do and as a Canadian, I am very proud of our RCMP. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
