Charles Dent

Mr. Speaker, I heard way more than two. I am not sure I can remember them all, in fact. We were talking about staffing and vacancies earlier. I pointed out that the number of vacancies has reduced over the past year and is going down very quickly because of the numbers of new trainees who started on October 4th. The Member has pointed out that there have been some changes. We have had a lot of changes related to people working in new positions and learning more about their jobs. There is ongoing training. The training programs are being set up to be online training programs so that all...

Mr. Speaker, what drove this in large part were questions by Mr. Ramsay and others about what was happening out there, and there were suggestions in those questions that there was a problem with the staffing. I have not said that I believe there is such a problem, but whenever an allegation is made about there being a problem, then it behooves the government and the department to look into that. The department is following through on those concerns. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my previous answer, I’ll look into that and I will get back to the Member on the issue.

It’s not a situation where the money was available. It was a situation where we didn’t have the money, so it couldn’t be done in advance.

Mr. Speaker, I apologize if I am not answering the right question. I was having difficulty hearing the Member in his question. I believe it’s important to note that everybody is entitled to have a case heard in court in their language and if they need to have an interpreter, one must be provided by the courts. So the judge is the one who has to be satisfied that the quality of the interpretation is good, and it’s up to the person who needs interpreting to make sure that that need is communicated to the court. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when allegations are made that there is a problem, then it’s quite normal to look into them. I wouldn’t call it a full-scale review. I have never called it a review. We’ve asked corporate human resources in the Executive to provide assistance to examine the staffing processes and to make sure that the proper procedures are being followed and to make recommendations where change is needed and identify the strengths where we have those strengths. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, I was aware of the concern. It was addressed to the House earlier. I met with the chief judge to discuss a number of issues. This was one of the issues that we discussed. The chief judge assured me that this change would not impact on the delivery of justice and that the court circuit would be adequate. I know that it is an issue that is watched regularly. I have recently, within the last few weeks, been in receipt of e-mails discussing the numbers of cases in different communities. In fact, the suggestion is that this has not caused a problem...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there was some expectation that with the staffing of the new correctional centre, there would be some extra time required by people and that has come to pass. Staff training and staff workload during the transition to the new centre has disrupted routines and caused some problems. We are still working through that. At the beginning of this month, an additional 12 officers have started the training program and at the end of five weeks from the start of their training, they will be moving into full-time positions within the centre. We think that will do a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would argue that this is a good thing. I don’t think that Mr. Menicoche would want to see the statistics change so that his region needed another RCMP officer. What I have heard from the RCMP is that based on what they see in the Nahendeh region, there is less need for policing than there is in other regions. That, Mr. Speaker, is good news. It means that there is not as high a crime rate there. In terms of the other factors, I am not sure what other factors they may have used. I can certainly ask the RCMP to outline those to me and I will forward...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member is aware, the RCMP determines the need for staffing and where their staff are located. I have discussed the issue with the chief superintendent. He’s assured me that based on the coverage in the Northwest Territories, they have about 177 members in the Northwest Territories, plus support staff; so a total complement of about 200. They’ve taken a look at what the needs are based on crime across the Northwest Territories, and he has assured me that their decisions about where staff are located are based entirely on need and that the Nahendeh...