Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Justice.
Mr. Speaker, as a mother of two children, I can't even imagine what Laura is going through with Frank missing. The feeling of not having any power and to feel that the RCMP is not doing enough to find her son. So I'm asking the Minister of Justice to commit to contacting the commanding officer of the Northwest Territories to ensure that the RCMP in Fort Smith have all the staff that they need, any missing persons expertise to continue the investigation to bring Frank home. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, of course, as everyone knows I can't direct the RCMP. But I certainly can relay what is being said in the House, and I will say that I did speak to the commanding officer about this prior to today actually, and I know that, you know, he is concerned, the RCMP are concerned. I feel for the mother. This is unimaginable. This is every parent's nightmare. And so I think that if I was in the same position, I would also feel that people weren't doing enough. I can't imagine, Mr. Speaker; so my heart goes out. And I appreciate the Member's statement as well, her call for people to get out or bring information forward. And I've had this discussion with other MLAs as well. There's rumors out on Facebook. There's lots of talk. But the RCMP needs information. There is someone who knows something, they need to come forward, they need to bring that information forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I think the Northwest Territories is going through a lot right now, and I think the Minister is going through a lot right now in his own home community, and I think the Northwest Territories continues to be a reactive. We're always reacting to situations. And, you know, we've worked hard in this government to bring the missing and murdered to life and to make actions and Calls to Actions. And I just want the Minister to follow up with the RCMP on their section of that section 9 of the Calls to Action, because is there a way is there a department that maybe the mother can go to make sure that the investigation is being done properly because and that's what these recommendations calls for, because Indigenous people, throughout Canada, have continuously been failed. People don't take our word as face value. It just seems like we're not heard and RCMP needs to hear us and, please, somebody help this mother bring her son home. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I will certainly raise these issues with the RCMP. You know, we, as a government, have been work on implementing our action plan, our response to the final report on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The Department of Justice has been working on a missing person's legislation. I was hoping to get it done this term, get it introduced, but it's taking longer than we had hoped. There's a bit more work to be done consulting with the RCMP, with other departments as, you know, it's a piece of legislation that impacts a lot of different departments and other pieces of legislation. So like I said, this is unimaginable for the family. And as the Member is correct, there's a lot going on in the territory. You know, dealing with the wildfires, I'm always and the floods, I'm always struck by the fact that life continues to go on despite that these things that everyone's living through, life continues to go on and we do need to recognize that people do have these struggles and we do need to be responsive to them, not just reactive. So I take the Member's point. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess my last question is, you know, it's this time of the year, the mother is concerned that there are fires close to that community; it is a time of the year where all the animals are coming out and, you know what, we don't want to think the worst but, you know, the reality is we haven't seen him for a long time and so within his department or any other department that there's funds available somehow to support the family or more searches within the surrounding area of Fort Smith and to, you know, with the police and everything? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs does have funding. The community government applies to applies for that funding to initiate or support a search of an area that is available. And it's my understanding that has happened and those funds have flowed to the town of Fort Smith to help support those efforts. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
