Charles Dent

Mr. Chairman, I move that clause 9 of Bill 17 be amended by striking out “section 6 of Bill,” in proposed subsection 10(5) of the Wills Act and by substituting “section 6 of Bill 17,”.

Mr. Chairman, this motion amends clause 9 to correct an internal reference back to Bill 17, Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act, in a transitional provision being added to the Wills Act. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We are here today to review Bill 17, Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act.

The bill we are reviewing today does not address marriage. The Supreme Court recently confirmed that it is the exclusive responsibility of the federal government to define marriage.

A few weeks ago, the federal Justice Minister introduced the Civil Marriage Act in the House of Commons. If passed, it will extend legal capacity for civil marriage to same-sex couples while respecting religious freedom. Until this legislation is passed or there is a court decision in the Northwest...

Mr. Chairman, I move that subclause 7(3) of Bill 17 be amended by striking out “section 7 of Bill_,” in proposed subsection 1(3) of the Intestate Succession Act and by substituting “section 7 of Bill 17,”.

Mr. Chairman, this motion amends sub-clause 7(3) to correct an internal reference back to Bill 17, Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act, in a new transitional provision being added to the Intestate Succession Act. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can’t say how many are in any facility because of addictions problems. I can say that the vast majority of inmates in the Northwest Territories were under the influence of alcohol when the crime was committed. So that alcohol is still the biggest problem that we face. That would tend to indicate that might be the area where addictions would be the biggest issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the amendments are very clear and they don’t get into the issues that the Member is speaking about. I think what we are doing is we are correcting a situation that has been clearly seen by the courts to be discriminatory in Canada under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As a government we have a responsibility to respect the laws of Canada and make sure that our laws are respectful and meet the test of the Charter.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the changes in the correctional system that we’re trying to implement as we’ve moved into the new facility is a new approach, more of a case management approach where we have workers who work with individuals who try and assess what their problems might be and what their specific needs might be. The department does purchase space and programming from the Salvation Army. It’s an average of 10 beds a day to assist people making the transition from being in jail to being free again. The programming there is life skills and substance abuse programming to try and deal...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We had a good part of this debate in the 14th Assembly and the process was started there with the changing of some laws in recognition of court decisions. What we’re doing now is continuing on with that process. It was a commitment that was made in the Assembly at that time that we would continue to do it. So it’s necessary that we change our laws. They are discriminatory right now. We should proceed with them. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, it’s really tough to find one area that is the most important. If people don’t have economic opportunity, obviously their children are not going to enjoy the same sort of security that others would. You don’t have economic opportunity if you don’t have an education. You don’t tend to be as healthy if you don’t have an educated. There are a whole range of issues that we need to deal with in our society and we need to make sure that we have healthy people making healthy choices in healthy communities if we want to make sure that we deal with this. So we have a real...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Regarding mandatory death benefits, the existing wording excludes same-sex couples from those benefits.

Mr. Speaker, I wish I had a clear, concise answer for that question. I don’t. I can’t say that child poverty exists because of one specific reason. There are a whole range of reasons that there is child poverty. We have, as a government, put a significant amount of money, as the Member noted in his statement, into programs over the last few years and I guess we must be just having trouble keeping up with the growth and the cost of living in an overheated economy. Because one would expect with the kind of investment that we’ve made with our small population, that more of a difference should...