Alfred Moses

Thanks for the clarification, confirmation. I think that maybe some Members were taken aback and thinking that was possibly a best guess in terms of the cost of the project here.

Moving forward with the $5 million, can the Minister confirm whether that $5 million is on top of the $299 million or is it part of the $299 million and that’s where he’s coming from, so that when Members are speaking of cost overruns they have a clear understanding that this $5 million is either part of the $299 million or not part of the $299 million.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to just discuss some of the work that the Inuvik Interagency Committee has been doing over the past year, I suppose. On the request of the Inuvik Interagency Committee, research was conducted in the community of Inuvik by Dr. Michael Young with the Royal Roads University on a Hard to House research program that he worked on. It presented initial findings on the research that he did with homelessness in Inuvik that was done this past winter. The way he did it was he did a lot of surveys and he did some focus groups, specifically with individuals who have...

More just clarification of a couple of items here in terms of moving forward specifically on this one page for the $5 million, and moving forward with the geotechnical work and some of the other preparatory work to start moving on this project here. I just want to get a little bit of clarification and let all Members kind of understand what this $5 million was for and where it’s coming from. Just more of a comment there and just for clarity and for the confirmation.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to clarify on a couple of things with the $5 million here because there have been some discussions, and you mentioned it quite well there, in terms of this having become more of a discussion of more than the $5 million and the project itself. I have heard some comments as we’re trying to move forward on a best guess as well as some assumptions on the project and cost overruns. I just wanted to confirm with the Minister today, I know that we did go out for some other cost estimates.

Can the Minister maybe just elaborate on how many cost estimates did we go...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in the House today to also recognize the International Women’s Day and congratulate all the recipients from the five regions in the Northwest Territories. Today I wanted to recognize all the other ladies in the Northwest Territories, the thousands of ladies who do a lot of great work for their communities, for their organizations and for bringing serious issues to the forefront.

It wasn’t much more than two weeks ago that we had a bunch of ladies outside the Legislative Assembly pushing for midwifery programs. We have a lot of strong advocates out there that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member’s statement today, and actually I just want to make a little reference to the Minister of Justice, the Minister that’s responsible for the Anti-Poverty Strategy. He mentions every one of the Ministers on Cabinet and what they’re doing to help address the Anti-Poverty Strategy. That is great because, really, we all have a part to play in this very serious issue when it comes to the high rates of our Aboriginal people in the corrections and jail systems. I do believe that this government is taking a very proactive step, and taking the right steps...

Just one other question in regard to these reintegrated strategies or the plan for when individuals are released and go back to their communities. Is this plan part of the application process for an individual’s request for parole? So would an inmate who developed a plan have a better chance of getting parole than one that didn’t have a plan? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. As I mentioned during question period, I was looking at the 10-year strategic plan that you guys have in place here. Under one of the headings there’s “provide integrated programs and services to offenders,” and it mentions that the department will be working on doing individual needs assessments and strategies related to the mental health or cognitive disabilities. It talks about intensive therapeutic interventions for addictions or violent behaviours. Where is the department on this and what type of programs are actually addressing the addictions and the violent...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With a lot of the crimes that we see in the Northwest Territories related to alcohol and drug offenses, would the Minister be looking at possibly developing a policy for our correctional facilities, that anyone that goes in on an alcohol or drug-related offense, that they have to take mandatory alcohol and drug treatment programs during their incarceration to help them heal and to help them get the rehabilitation that they need? Would he look at creating a policy and is there any policy in any other jurisdictions in the correctional facilities? Thank you.

Thank you. All these very great programs that are allowed into the jail systems, we almost have better services in the jails than we do in our communities, which is very unfortunate.

With these treatment programs, are they mandatory to take these programs or are they on a voluntary basis for the inmates? Thank you