Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, most communities in the Northwest Territories have a youth justice committee and, for the most part, young offenders are diverted to that committee. So residents in the community can decide what is an effective and appropriate manner of dealing with offenders. What it takes is an agreement or acknowledgement by the offender that they have committed an offence, and a willingness to work with the community to deal with that offence in an appropriate way. That is by far the biggest option that we have for young offenders in our communities across the North...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Members know, it is not my position to direct the RCMP as to where their staff should go. I have discussed the staffing situation in Fort Simpson with the chief superintendent. The chief superintendent assured me that the decision was made based on need across the Territories. Given the complement of members that we have in the Territories, the chief superintendent is confident that the decisions on where members are located are proper as they stand right now. The next time I meet with the chief superintendent, I will make sure that I advise him that the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that the RCMP establish staff positions based on need in the community, and I understand that the decision they made to change the staffing levels in Fort Simpson was based on their assessment of the requirements for maintaining public safety in that region. Mr. Speaker, I am not aware of the Treasury Board funding that the Member refers to, so I would have to request some information from the RCMP on how that funding was accessed and allocated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, Bill 12 is An Act to Amend the Education Act.

The key objective of the amendment to the act is to clarify and confirm the authority of education bodies to hire and employ superintendents of education outside the public service. This bill includes a consequential amendment to the Public Service Act.

The changes proposed to the act will support provisions of the Education Act originally intended when the act came into force in 1996, namely the education bodies would be allowed to hire and employ superintendents outside of the public service. In fact, the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the expectation is that a student embarked on a post-secondary career will have read the application form, understand what the requirements are, and be aware that any changes in their situation may impact on whether or not they owe money back to the department, or whether they will be considered in the future. The department does not actively follow up to see whether or not somebody has been successful in the first semester. The expectation is that the student, as part of their process, will make sure that they stay in compliance with the rules and...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. No, they couldn’t do it before under their municipal legislation.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we are aware now that RWED has advised us that there are no economic agreements currently under the auspices of this act, and it is unlikely that any would be made in the future. So I am not sure when the last agreement would have concluded, but the understanding is there would be a totally different kind of arrangement if this sort of economic development activity were undertaken in the future.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, I have Mr. Mark Aitken from the Department of Justice with me.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the purpose of Bill 8, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2004, is to amend various statutes of the Northwest Territories for which minor changes are proposed or errors or inconsistencies have been identified.

In order for an amendment to be included in the bill, it had to meet the following criteria: a, it must not be controversial; b, it must not involve the spending of public funds; c, it must not prejudicially affect the rights of persons; and, d, it must not create a new offence or subject a new class of persons to an existing offence.

Mr...

Yes, Mr. Chairman, please.