Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a concerning amount of crime on our streets here in the capital. I was at a friend of mine who owns a shop just a couple days ago. And the door was locked. He doesn't trust the people that come in. This is an increasingly poor problem. And I know our Premier has stood on a public safety agenda. That was his pitch as Premier, and he and we made that a priority of this government. So how is the Premier addressing the elevated rates of crime that have been increasing since the COVID19 pandemic? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the main things that I've been doing during this Assembly is lobbying my fellow MLAs to also make crime prevention and law enforcement a priority. We wound up with that in our priorities of this Assembly. Well, public safety, and so I'm happy to see that. And that will allow us to now move forward hopefully with some other initiatives. I meet regularly with the commanding officer of the RCMP. We discuss some of the challenges they're facing, potential solutions, and I'm always trying to find ways to provide additional support to the RCMP. We've added new RCMP members around the territory, including here in Yellowknife, every year since I have been the Minister of Justice. And, again, next year we will hope to be adding more officers. So I have been working. There's also legislation that I've been looking at to tackle some of the other issues we're facing of the drugs, the drug houses. The reason that we have this crime here is, in large part, because of the drug problem and so I want to be able to address the root of that. At its core of course, the drug problem is a health issue. It's a trauma issue. So we need to get at those reasons as well. So I am looking forward to the mandate development so that I can put into motion some of these issues or some of these potential solutions that I've been looking at over the past few years. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you to the Premier. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I agree with the Premier. We need to have a combination of root of things that address the root causes and things that keep our streets safe. The Premier mentioned legislative new legislation tools that could be provided to the RCMP. What are those? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I've spoken extensively about some of these tools. One of the main ones is the Civil Forfeiture Act. So right now if someone is suspected of committing a crime and they have some money on their person that is seized but they are not convicted of a crime, that money goes back to them even though, you know, everyone and his dog knows that it came from selling drugs. The Civil Forfeiture Act would allow the government to make an application to the court to retain those funds, and it would be done on a balance of probabilities as opposed to beyond a reasonable doubt. So there's one example of the types of legislation that can actually impact crime in the territory and organized crime and, frankly, the type of people who are selling the drugs and leading to a lot of the other issues. Scam legislation is the other one that I've spoken extensively about, and that is a way to help root out the drug houses. And a Trespass Act is another one that's probably of interest to the Members from Yellowknife. Many times the RCMP get a call, there's someone who's causing a disturbance in an apartment, but they have no authority to remove that person because we don't have a Trespass Act here. So those are the three primary pieces of legislation. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Premier. I look forward to seeing those pieces of legislation.
As this as public safety is a priority of this Assembly, the Premier will the Premier arrange a briefing for the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight with the RCMP commander of the Northwest Territories so we can speak so that all Members of this House can receive the same level of information and detail and express our concerns? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've got to say I'm a little surprised that the committee hasn't done that themselves. They have the full authority to make that offer or reach out to the RCMP, and I know that the commanding officer would be happy to appear and have those discussions. So I can pass along the message but what I recommend is that the committee actually write a letter and ask for that meeting. That way you start building a relationship between the committee and the commanding officer. If I act as a gobetween, I'm just kind of passing notes back and forth. Thank you.
Mr. Premier. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And fair enough. Will the Premier commit to hosting a town or joining me in hosting a town hall meeting where we can discuss public safety concerns with business owners in Yellowknife, with people who live in my riding, so he can hear their safety concerns firsthand? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That sounds like an invitation to the Member's constituency meeting, and so I'm happy to accept. Thank you.
Premier. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
