Alfred Moses

Thank you, Madam Chair. The committee that’s been bringing these motions forward, once again, is in support of the work that government is doing. Some other dialogue and statistics that we get when we do have questions for the department, a lot of these motions we do bring forward are in response to some of the questions and answers that we hear within our dialogue during the business planning session. We’re working with our organizations throughout the Northwest Territories, so committee just wants to acknowledge that we’re listening, we’re hearing what people are saying and I just want to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Under legal aid services, I know the department has done a lot of really good work in bringing down the wait times for regional centres and here in Yellowknife when people are wanting to access legal aid. However, in the small communities, what we’re hearing is it’s a little longer than 60 days. As a result, I would like to read a motion.

Just following up on that, maybe a concerned citizen might call into the 1-800 line to address an issue they see in the community. It could be domestic violence. That might be a case we can refer with. What does the department do to follow up on a case where a concerned resident is putting in a case and calling the 1-800 line or calling the Yellowknife RCMP detachment? What is the plan of action to follow that up and follow up with the case?

I know that in a small community, if a concerned resident heard some domestic violence going on in a house or an apartment and they call the RCMP, they be...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Community Safety Plan, I was just wondering if there was an update on how many of our communities across the Northwest Territories have a safety plan, and also looking at the recommendations from the report of the Standing Committee on Government Operations about trying to include some type of safe houses in some of the small communities that would protect some of our people that are in need. Maybe I could just get a little update on that and what kind of support is being put in place for those community safety plans.

I just have one other question in this area. Speaking with other professionals and looking at other acts and things that we are trying to amend or change within this government, I had it come to my attention that the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, there are papers and reports that are done by intern students working in that area, for however long a period of time that they are, that they do come with good recommendations, as well, and I am not sure if committee or Members have ever seen those intern reports.

I just want to ask the Minister, are those reports that are done by...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do have a Business Incentive Policy that the government goes by. However, there are some clauses in there and I think we need to discuss those. I brought it up in the House before about how we have businesses from the South that win the BIP process by having some companies, one, two and sometimes three, in their proposal. What is the Minister going to do to fix that? Sometimes small business doesn’t even get to do the work they were asked to do in the proposal, they are just used to get the BIP points.

What is the Minister going to do to effect the change so our small...

Obviously, the coroners that we have across the Northwest Territories are very effective in the fact that they deal with the scene at the time, whether it’s a crime scene or it’s a scene where… They’re sometimes one of the first few people on the scene, so they can share their own personal experiences or what they’ve seen that the general public doesn’t get to see. I’ve seen those kinds of presentations on various levels of areas and I always find to be the most effective in educating our youth about…(inaudible)…behaviour. So I think it’s something that this government needs to maybe look at...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In some cases, our clientele and residents can’t really take the type of treatment or the facility or even the clientele that they’re housed with.

In the worst-case scenario, if a person were to leave the residential treatment facility, does this government offer some type of support service to get them back home to their communities in a safe and timely manner?

The Minister hasn’t had that opportunity, so I’m assuming some of our physicians and counsellors probably didn’t have that opportunity as well. When we’re preparing our clients who are getting treatment for addictions counselling or some type of other issue, how does this government prepare our residents and our clients who are going down south for treatment for some of the things they might see? When you get into the cities, there are more hard-core addicts, there are people who have lived other lifestyles that don’t connect or relate to the type of life we live up here in the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee is in strong support of the Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan; however, Members do feel that the portion allocated to this initiative and recommended the additional allocation of funding for the priorities in the action plan, and as I mentioned earlier, including but not limited to the detox facilities, after-care and enhanced mental health services. Also, to gain the judiciary’s confidence in the wellness courts, enhancements to existing mental health services will likely be required. Furthermore, this has been a big initiative of mine since...