Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, later today I'll table a document, being a bill that was prepared in the 15th Legislative Assembly but not enacted. Mr. Speaker, that bill is the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act. With some minor revisions, the enactment of this draft bill, we could provide enforcement with the tool to help addressing the manufacturing and sale of illicit drugs. The legislation's already present and working in Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon.
So, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister of Justice confirm what enforcement tools are we using in the NWT to shut down known drug houses throughout the territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister responsible for Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So right now the tools that are being used are the tools that are the RCMP's disposal their ability to do investigations, to get search warrants, and the like. So what we don't have access to are a lot of the tools that other jurisdictions do, that are not criminal law but civil law tools, like the SCAN legislation that the Member is talking about. So unfortunately right now we have a limited set of tools in the territory. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Minister for that answer. I think it's important that we look at expanding the tools that we do have, and if that means going and looking at civil legislation then that's what we should be doing.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister confirm why we'd want to look at civil legislation to deal with those drug houses? Thank you.
Thank you. Over the last number of years, the tools that the RCMP have traditionally used have been eroded by changes to the Criminal Code, by Supreme Court decisions, so the reason to look at civil legislation is so that we can do our part to support the RCMP in addressing some of those issues. Civil legislation, it's much different than the criminal legislation. It doesn't need to be enforced by RCMP officers. It uses a balance of probabilities as opposed to proof beyond a reasonable doubt. So there's a number of benefits to using civil legislation, and it just expands the toolbox that the law enforcement has access to. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it sounds like maybe we should be enacting this piece of legislation. It didn't happen in the 15th Assembly, but the difference now is that we have a lot of people dying because of drugs.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit his department to undertake and complete a jurisdictional scan and review of the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act used in other jurisdictions? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we're at the tail end of this Assembly. We have maybe six months left where we can actually get things done. Right now, the Department of Justice is working on the policies and legislation that we've been working on for a number of years and trying to wrap that up. So as of today, there isn't the capacity to go about and do that; however, times have changed. We're seeing new drugs. We're seeing new types of criminals in the territory. We're seeing a lot of interest from criminal organizations outside of the territory in the Northwest Territories. So we have to change as well. So it's imperative that we look at these pieces of legislation. I think we have a moral obligation to do so, to do what we can to stop these deaths and the devastation that drugs are causing in the community.
So while I can't commit to the work that would be involved in looking at this piece of legislation and doing all of that work, because it is a significant amount of work, I have spoken with the department, and I've let them know that we need to put our minds to this. We don't have a crime reduction unit in the Department of Justice, but that doesn't mean we can't look at more of these initiatives. We do have a number of initiatives, community safety officers, things like this, but it's clear that we need some more tools.
So this has been the focus of a number of discussions I've had with the department. This piece of the SCAN legislation is one piece. There is more communication other pieces could include more communication between the RCMP and the Minister, other types of civil legislation, more support from municipalities. So all of these things are on the table, and I've asked the department to turn their mind to it and figure out how we are going to respond, because we can't continue to do the same thing. There needs to be action on this, and we can start now. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Hay River residents, and NWT residents, do not want to attend more funerals. What we want is the enforcement tools to hit those who are manufacturing and selling out of public housing units, out of private housing, and out of commercial properties. I know the Minister has already alluded to this next question but, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to review this draft SCAN bill and consider it for the NWT before the end of this Assembly? We have to do something and doing nothing just isn't acceptable. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So personally I have reviewed the draft bill. It's very similar to other bills across the country the Member named a number of jurisdictions that have this. And as I've already stated, I won't repeat myself, but we are turning our minds to this. We know we have to do something, and we need to take action. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
