Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to follow up on some of the questions I had earlier for the Minister of Justice. Mr. Speaker, I must start out by saying I have the utmost respect for the judicial system here in the Northwest Territories, but when there is a public outcry about light sentences handed out to violent offenders here in the Northwest Territories, the public has little recourse but to come to their elected officials and state that something is wrong if somebody is killing somebody and getting five years, or if an individual beats up their spouse and gets five months even though they have a lengthy record of a number of violent offences. I would like to ask the Minister if he is going to address the issue of light sentences being handed out to violent offenders here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The repeat offenders that the Member is referring to and also the light sentences, of course, are at the discretion of the judge. The final decision lies with the judge. At the same time, at every federal/provincial/territorial Ministers meeting we deal with various laws that may be before us in dealing with the Justice Minister and also Public Safety Minister, and these are the matters that are always before us. The lighter sentence, there is always a question of why is that and change of the legality, the legal system. Since last year, there have been a lot of changes. We are currently dealing with all of those issues that are being brought forward. What the Member is referring to is also before us every opportunity we get at that main table, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, just for the benefit of folks out there watching or listening to this exchange, I would like to ask the Minister whether or not, as Minister, and whether or not this government can have any control or influence over decisions that the justice system makes, the judges are making. Is it possible for us to instruct the justice officials and the judges in the Northwest Territories to throw the book at violent offenders here in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker? Is that possible? Thank you.
Mahsi. The judicial system is another arm of this government and as a Minister of Justice I cannot tell the chief judge or judge what to do with respect to sentencing. I have to respect their decision. The final decision lies with the judges. There’s a federal law that they have to follow as well. There are various aspects of independent cases. So I cannot interfere as Justice Minister on those decisions that are made. The final decisions are made by the judges. Mahsi.
I know the Minister talked about FPT meetings and getting together with his colleagues from across the country. One of the big issues recently that’s come to light is people getting double credit for time served in remand while they’re awaiting a court date. I’d like to ask the Minister if here in the Northwest Territories has our government and the Minister of Justice taken a position on whether or not that’s a good practice to have. Thank you.
Mahsi. There’s double time, time and a half, time. A lot of times the number of days are waiting for their trial. Those are the discussions that we had at a recent FPT meeting as well, and there’s been a lot of debate on the 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2, two times or double you can call it. So those are discussions that have been brought forward across Canada and we do raise our concerns as well.
There have been several cases, Mr. Speaker, that even young offenders have, like, 40 or 50 different cases before them, but they are free for various reasons under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, and the acts are being changed as well. The recommendations are brought forward to make those changes so we can deal with those matters at hand. But this double time and time and a half is also the discussion that we are having at the federal level. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It doesn’t sound like our government has an official position on whether or not that’s a practice that we want to have here for folks in remand. Personally, I think it’s a practice that has to stop.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister if people who are in remand -- and our jail has a number of those individuals -- are available to access programs and services that other inmates are allowed to access while incarcerated. Thank you.
Mahsi. It all depends on the case that’s at hand, if it’s a high risk, low risk, medium risk. So it all depends on the case that’s before the court proceedings. So it all varies. Mahsi.
