David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to follow up on some of the questions I had earlier for the Minister of Justice. Mr. Speaker, I must start out by saying I have the utmost respect for the judicial system here in the Northwest Territories, but when there is a public outcry about light sentences handed out to violent offenders here in the Northwest Territories, the public has little recourse but to come to their elected officials and state that something is wrong if somebody is killing somebody and getting five years, or if an individual beats up their spouse and gets five months even though...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the things I alluded to in my Member’s statement was the fact that North Slave Correctional Centre is the largest corrections facility we have in the Northwest Territories. Currently it doesn’t have a clinical psychologist, Mr. Speaker. That, to me, is a gaping hole in the services that are available to violent offenders here in the Northwest Territories, and it’s little wonder our statistics are going up when we don’t have a clinical psychologist at our largest facility. I’d like to ask the Minister if there are any plans to fill the position of clinical...

Judging by the amount of repeat offenders, especially in the area of violent crime that we have here in the Northwest Territories, I’m wondering if the Minister could commit to reviewing the programs and services that are available for violent offenders at the North Slave Correctional Centre and other correctional facilities around the Northwest Territories in an effort to make sure that we are getting the best programs and services into our correctional facilities that we can. I’d suggest that the Minister look around the country, and even North America for that matter, to find out where the...

What message does this send to the victims -- these light sentences -- and to their families? Certainly we know the message that light sentences have on offenders, especially if they’re not thoroughly rehabilitated. They will get out and, sadly, most of them will reoffend. We have to do everything in our power to turn that trend around.

I appreciate the Minister’s comments. I’ll make sure that I get her a copy of the deck that she presented to the Standing Committee on Social Programs that day so that she has a copy of that. That was about 18 months ago. What I’m getting at is when the Minister talked about running an efficient and effective health care system here in the Northwest Territories, in my mind if we run enough deficits at some of our authorities to the magnitude that they currently are in, then are we managing and effectively utilizing the dollars that we have if those deficits are being allowed to build up like...

Mr. Chairman, I guess I will just disagree with what the Minister is saying because I think going forward we know the new rules of engagement with the Government of Alberta. We know it is going to cost us more money. Why isn’t there a corresponding increase in the operations and the maintenance of the authorities and the department to address those concerns? That is the question that I have. We know it is coming. It is going to hit us squarely in the pocketbook. How come we are not budgeting for it? That is my beef, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yesterday I was talking about some work that I think the department should be looking at in the area of the impending closure of the municipal airport in Edmonton. I listened to the Minister’s response yesterday and she said it could take up to three years. You might be right, Madam Minister, but it could happen sometime this year and I think we need to be heavily involved in the planning of that. We have to get a better understanding of what the impact is going to be on our budget going forward and I’d like to see that work begin in earnest.

The other issue that I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It doesn’t sound like our government has an official position on whether or not that’s a practice that we want to have here for folks in remand. Personally, I think it’s a practice that has to stop.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister if people who are in remand -- and our jail has a number of those individuals -- are available to access programs and services that other inmates are allowed to access while incarcerated. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, just for the benefit of folks out there watching or listening to this exchange, I would like to ask the Minister whether or not, as Minister, and whether or not this government can have any control or influence over decisions that the justice system makes, the judges are making. Is it possible for us to instruct the justice officials and the judges in the Northwest Territories to throw the book at violent offenders here in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker? Is that possible? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7, oral questions, on the Order Paper. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted