David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a difficult situation when you are dealing with the adult population in our correctional facilities. We are not alone in that, the prevalence of FASD across the country. Other jurisdictions are in a similar situation as us in trying to determine the prevalence of FASD. We have a diagnostic team at Stanton Territorial Hospital but they deal with youth and it is very much intensive. You require the services of a psychologist, a specialized pediatrician and also other health care providers, so it is something that is not easily arrived at, but we do have that...

The Business Incentive Policy is there so we can support businesses here in the Northwest Territories. Again, it is another tool that this government uses to ensure dollars stay in the Territories. I’ve been here just over 10 years and this issue about BIP comes up at least once a year. We’ve had a number of revisions and changes to it over the past decade, and if the Member and Regular Members feel it’s necessary to go through another process of taking a look at BIP, how we can improve it, areas we feel we should be looking at, that’s something I would be happy to sit down with the Regular...

Mr. Chairman, that is the first that I have heard of those types of reports. We can have the department go back and ask court services if they are familiar with those types of reports and where they go and how they could be utilized if there are some good recommendations in there. It might be an avenue worth exploring. Thank you.

For that detail, perhaps we’ll go to Deputy Minister Haener.

Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, we did come prepared to answer the questions. A lot of this information was provided to committee two weeks ago. The Members made assumptions on vacant positions and what their value is. If you have 42 positions and we filled 20 of them, that leaves you with 22 vacant positions. You can do the math quickly for what a full encumbered position costs the Government of the Northwest Territories and figure that out easily. It’s not rocket science.

Again, it is a rolling average, Mr. Chairman, and something that not just the Department of Justice deals with, but every department across...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For that detail, we’ll go to the deputy minister.

That number would be certainly difficult to quantify.

However, getting back to the Member’s concern over the $305,000 that we have this year for the wellness court, next year we have earmarked for the wellness courts just shy of $1 million and we have had some of our staff at community justice working on this. We had a presentation that we provided to the Standing Committee on Social Programs today. We’re going to be moving forward and we feel that we have it resourced. We want to get it up and running, and I think once the wellness court is up and running, we’ll have a better understanding of...

Again, it is in the government’s best interest to ensure that dollars spent here in the Northwest Territories by our government stay in the Northwest Territories, and that is certainly an objective. We have, I know the Member mentioned, negotiated contracts. That is another policy separate from our policy on sole-source contracts. Again, it is there so that we can build capacity here in the Northwest Territories, so departments can look at various contracts that are going to enable groups around the Northwest Territories to build up that capacity and employ local people and ensure that money...

Mr. Chairman, it is just a net effect, that number. Thank you.