Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Justice. I believe there is much work to be done in reforming our criminal justice system. One of the places that is easy to start is the increasing use of alternative measures; that is, not necessarily going through the court system and sentencing people to jail sentences but using healing circles and all sorts of other alternative measures. My question for the Minister of Justice is: during this life of this Assembly, will we increase the use of alternative measures?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Nationally, departments of justice, provinces, and territories have all agreed that they would increase the use of alternative measures by 5 percent, or restorative justice by 5 percent, and we're no different from that. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to certainly aim higher than that; 5 percent isn't necessarily very much. Certainly, we are going to be looking, as we always do, as to how we can better continue to engage community justice committees, what we can do to make better use of those committees, and to encourage the use of alternative measures. Diversion numbers have not gone up in the last few years, Mr. Speaker. I'm quite conscious of that, and that does need to change. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am happy to hear that we are committed to the 5 percent target, and I hope we can blow right past that number. I believe there are a number of improvements that can be made here. Firstly, NWT prosecutions can start to use alternative measures more. I believe officers should be encouraged to use alternative measures before they ever get to the Crown's office, and I believe we should work with our PPSC, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, to use alternative measures more broadly. Ultimately, we won't get that increase in alternative measures without increased funding and support to our community justice committees, so my question for the Minister of Justice: will we be increasing the funding to our community justice committees?
I don't get to unilaterally increase the funding to the community justice committees as much as I might perhaps like to. I go through the same budgetary processes that everybody else does and notwithstanding my other role. However, Mr. Speaker, there is the business planning process coming up. While that doesn't necessarily mean that we all get to put in any and all new initiatives, it certainly is an opportunity to look at where we can, where we need to change the way we are structured, and how we can maybe seek to see some improvements. There are also some opportunities, I hope, for federal engagement and for federal support. I do know we do have allies in the federal government who also are very conscious of the need to increase alternative measures, increase the use of community justice programs, and it is certainly my hope that we'll be working with those partners to see those increases.
I look forward to continuing those conversations regarding business planning. I believe that the Minister could put forward quite a compelling case that every dollar we spend in alternative measures actually saves us money because it is simply extremely costly to bring people to trial and to hold them in prisons. If we can avoid doing that, it ultimately saves us money, and I believe there are numerous studies showing that.
Mr. Speaker, our MP, Michael McLeod, has been quite a vocal advocate for increasing First Nations policing funding. In this current budget, we passed $47 million to fund the RCMP and only $400,000 for First Nations programs. Will the Minister of Justice commit to increasing that First Nations funding amount?
I had the opportunity to speak with our MP just recently. He certainly is a proponent of the First Nations Policing Program, as is the Department of Justice and as the Department of Justice has been for some 10 years. The First Nations Policing Program is a cost-shared program. It is a cost-share that gives us a much better opportunity for return. That is why we don't have to put as much in as compared to the territorial policing agreement, which is a 70-30 agreement, so it's a much higher cost to the GNWT. I would more than happily split the costs with the federal government along the lines of the FNPP. However, that is something that will require the federal government to be onside with. We've been engaged in that discussion with them for many years and to why they should be looking at us and changing the way that we are funded and having more opportunities to use that program. As I say, at this point, it is an advocacy role that I will simply have to continue to take. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recognize there is much advocacy work to be done, but I believe we won't make any progress absent this Assembly championing this issue. I'd like to speak briefly about a Yukon First Nation, Kwanlin Dun's, policing program where their own members are the front line of policing services. I believe this has been a success story. Indigenous governments around the world are taking notice. I really believe that we could work with the federal government and in this current political climate championing similar programming in the Northwest Territories. My question for the Minister of Justice is: will she work to develop a similar program, where we have true First Nations policing in the Northwest Territories?
Yes, I'm also quite familiar with the Kwanlin Dun program. I can certainly commit to saying that I intend to look into the terms of reference through which it was created, or MOUs or whatever systems or processes they used to establish their program. I am aware that it is a program that is in part funded by the Kwanlin Dun First Nation. Certainly, it would never be my intention to impose a program like this on any Indigenous government or community, but I would be more than happy to work with any Indigenous government to try to work towards this sort of a goal and to then go to our federal government partners and see what we can do for funding. Those are a lot of ideas and a lot of steps that would need to happen to move it forward. I can assure the Member that we're at least at the stage of thinking about it, as I've described. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions, Member for Nunakput.
