Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d be happy to provide that to the Member. I’m not sure if she wants me to provide that in writing so that she’s got it in a lot of detail. As I’ve said earlier, one of the first steps is to try and respond to the RCMP business plan to make sure we have adequate policing here in the Northwest Territories. We are supporting community programs like the Wellness Coalition and the Citizens on Patrol program, which again should help to reduce the opportunities for this sort of offence to ever take place. Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act there is a new sentence that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The RCMP can do that and have done that in the past, but it is entirely the RCMP's decision as to when they should make that sort of announcement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't know how you identify potential offenders in a document. I would certainly be prepared to examine what information is available on charges that have been laid and on convictions that have been laid, and provide that sort of numerical data. But in terms of privacy concerns, until somebody is convicted I can't see how we can provide much information.

Again, I am prepared to work with Members here to provide them what we can, but there will be some limitations on what is publicly available.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would certainly take a look at it.

Mr. Speaker, I can't answer that question at this time. I don't know exactly how many staff, but I know that, for instance, in the North Slave region, there is one officer supported by five staff in the career centre, who can also provide services to people in apprenticeship programs. That's typically the way it is done; the support is provided through the career centres in the Northwest Territories. I will have to commit to getting the Member the specific numbers at a later date. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, NWT apprentices do qualify for financial assistance for books, for travel if they need to travel to take their training, and for living expenses. So there is funding available to support apprentices in those areas already. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Enjoy your glass of water now. Income support is offered as a program of last resort, it's not a guaranteed income. It is a program that I'm prepared to discuss its administration with the committee and discuss how it should be examined and reviewed, and then we can maybe move from there. But in its current format, it is a program of last resort, and all of your resources, all of an individual's resources that they have, whether that comes from legal winnings or a cash gift, are counted as something in your pocket and all that is provided is then a top-up to get to what is absolutely needed...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, having answered the question about the training required for income support workers, I think it's also important to say that the expectation is that the workers will take a case management approach. In other words, they're supposed to work with other resources in the community; for instance, the social worker with Health and Social Services who may make available some counselling services. The social worker may have access to psychological assistance if that's necessary, or other tools that may be available. We don’t have the comprehensive program we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to commit to work with my colleague on this issue. It may interest the honourable Member to know that as recently as yesterday, the staff of Education, Culture and Employment and Health and Social Services were meeting to discuss healthy living and active living activities. They have agreed that we will work together a bit more formally to try to pull together a plan, so that we can work within existing budgets to stimulate community-level activities particularly aimed at focusing on youth in the communities across the North. I would...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish I could make that promise, but as Minister I'm not allowed to provide any direction directly to the Legal Services Board because it is an independent body. The limits are the appointment and revocation of appointments of the members of that board. That's the only action that the Minister can provide, other than providing funding. I can tell you that we have not cut our funding to legal aid at all in the recent past. As I said, we have tried to increase the staff lawyer component to deal with the backlog. I've talked to the federal Minister of...