Charles Dent

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to review that listing of criteria and take a look at those bullets and see if they remain appropriate. I think it’s important to remember that our basic Income Support program provides better support to individuals than does the Alberta program. So AISH doesn’t come near what we provide in the basic program, let alone what we offer in the enhanced program. I would be happy, though, to review those criteria. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My learned colleague on the other side has certainly found a way to get in 23 questions when you are only supposed to have four. I will answer those last two, though. In regards to including the federal inmates within the population, it is important to remember that the institution is not maximum security. So the types of individuals who would be considered for placement there by Corrections Canada are going to be consistent with the type of individual that we have in the population generally right now. We certainly take a look at people. If somebody is not...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The intent is to recognize that some people face different challenges. In order to accommodate that, the benefits can’t be the same for everybody. That’s why the program has been set up as it is. Most jurisdictions in Canada provide some kind of additional benefit for people with challenges or disabilities, so we have taken the same sort of approach. All of our programs are provided under the wings of the Income Support program. All of our programs provide support to people. For instance, the Seniors’ Fuel Subsidy is an Income Support program. Student Financial...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, we have been trying to take advantage secondments to learn from other people. Yes, we have continuous training going on. We have people who work within the Department of Justice to help the staff in all of our facilities develop their skills so that they are better managers. Yes, we are working with staff to try and improve the jobs that they do. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Ms. Lee talked about 12 vacancies. The only time we had 12 vacancies was almost a year ago, November 2003. At the end of September, there were seven vacancies and, as I said, we had 12 officers start training on the 4th of October. So I think that the issue of vacancies is one that is being dealt with. We’ve increased the numbers of positions with the staffing of the North Slave Correctional Centre. It takes a bigger staff complement to run that facility than it did the old facility. So I would argue that the movement is in the right direction. We are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, perhaps I could talk to the Minister of Education about this.

---Laughter

The Department of Justice used to offer a Legal Interpreters Program. In 1995 the program was ended and Aurora College took over offering the certification program. The program was set at one year and part of it included legal interpretation and health interpretation to help make sure that interpreters and translators could deal with the increasingly complex world today that we live in. Unfortunately, over the years the enrollment in that program has declined to such an extent that...