Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question I would like to raise today is how we can get more boots on the ground, from an enforcement point of view, than in the cars driving by. Mr. Speaker, I have talked to the Minister of Justice about this issue where there is a call out there by the public wanting to see more activity from our enforcement side on the ground, speaking to people, meeting people and developing that personality and presence in the community. We know that in the city of Yellowknife we have municipal enforcement, also known as bylaw, and many other communities and regions have bylaw officers. One of the problems we have is resourcing this. So in bringing this problem to the Minister of Justice, I talked to him about finding ways to help deter some crime, in partnership with the RCMP, before it turns into that negative aspect of crime actually happening, and then the processing of the crime, and then it goes on and on and the cost to the justice system.
Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister of Justice is: would he be interested in opening up a dialogue that we could come up with potentially -- and I stress potentially, Mr. Speaker -- some seed money to try to get more enforcement officers on the ground accessing the resources of municipal enforcement through some type of cooperating agreement with the RCMP and help develop a model that we can push out to the regions that this would be a program that we could develop together with both the City of Yellowknife and the regions to see if we can get more activity from our enforcement side to help deter crime? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This is one area that certainly was addressed at last week’s FPT meeting that I attended in Fredericton. Out of that meeting, the three territorial Ministers did discuss a strategy with the federal government to increase policing in the remote communities such as the Northwest Territories, the Yukon and also Nunavut. Out of that there is a plan in place which I’ll be sharing with the Members.
There is also a plan in place by the federal government, Mr. Speaker, a community officer program. There’s a pilot project for our jurisdiction and we are certainly looking forward to that. I know that’s just one small piece, but this is the area that we have improved on over the years. We are open to ideas and suggestions but, as you know, Mr. Speaker, nationally there is a shortage of RCMP officers. There has been an announcement of 2,500 officers through a recruitment fund and out of that we got our portion, but it was on a per capita basis so we got small seed money out of that. At the same time, we got some money out of federal, so we continue to work with that. Mahsi.
Thank you to the Minister of Justice for that important answer, Mr. Speaker. What I’d like to do is to see if we can seize that opportunity to help use the resources that exist in the city of Yellowknife such as they already have an enforcement division, but as the Minister knows very well, they’re not a policing division. So in other words, they don’t have the same powers and authority that the RCMP would have. Yet, that said, they are public officers in their own right and, of course, they have those types of responsibilities, again, different but similar in their own form. So there is a certain element of where they could help patrol, but work with the RCMP to help deter activity. That’s what I’m looking for from the Minister, if he sees an opportunity here in this somewhat compilation of ideas here. Can we work out an idea of potentially helping develop some seed money, create a program that could work regionally in the larger centres, whether it be Fort Smith, Behchoko, Inuvik, and accessing these types of resources. Does the Minister see an opportunity here? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of opportunities and those opportunities, certainly, we can work with. We have agreements with the RCMP “G” Division through the federal government and working with municipalities in the communities such as bylaw enforcement. So there are agreements in place already, but going beyond that, having foot patrols into the communities, we have to keep in mind that this is a territorial-wide initiative and we need to focus on all communities. That’s why we’re aggressively approaching the federal government to see our uniqueness, our remoteness, our geographic challenges that we’re faced with on whether it be foot patrols or patrolling the communities. So we continue to strive for that with the federal government.
Certainly we, as a territorial government, can look forward to developing an action plan to see what kind of enforcement could we provide. We are providing excellent services in the Northwest Territories, but we continue to improve in those areas. So we will continue to strive towards the federal government even more. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister is correct; RCMP are providing not just excellent services, exemplary services, without any doubt in my mind. I happen to be one of their biggest fans.
Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Minister that any program developed, it would have to be territory-wide and I would not assume in any fashion that it shouldn’t be. But crime is a problem and I don’t want to shock this House by making that statement, but a lot of crime, in my view, could be deterred by a visual presence. That’s really what I’m after, Mr. Speaker. I’m after do you think we could find a way to come up with a measurable program, one that we can work through, at the very least, our larger regions, our larger communities and seize on the opportunity.
So, Mr. Speaker, to the Justice Minister, that is if I was able to forward some of the officials from the City of Yellowknife to the Minister’s office, do you think he’d be open for some type of discussion to find if we could build a partnership, one that we can model across the Territories and certainly find useful information and measurable information? Would he be open for that type of meeting and discussion? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, our department is open to any discussion that will certainly benefit all the communities of the Northwest Territories. This particular area, we have to involve the RCMP “G” Division in any discussion that is focused on enforcement or foot patrol, because they’re the ones who have the liability in that area, and also the agreements that we have in place with them through the federal contribution. So any meeting that needs to take place is not only the municipalities but also the RCMP “G” Division needs to be involved in those areas. So we’ll continue to work in that dialogue. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s funny, last session I said that for the first time and I’m starting to use it a lot, which is would the Minister be open to visiting my riding and meeting with the officials, perhaps next week to make time with meeting the RCMP, speaking with the mayor on this issue to see if we could speak territorially as well as regionally on this issue, again, to move forward on visual presence and, hopefully, to deter crime? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly those areas of discussion we can certainly have within my department, “G” Division and the municipalities of the Northwest Territories to strive towards trying to get more access and also resources and federal funding, and then also strategic thinking of territorial government funding in this initiative. Mahsi.
