David Ramsay

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.

Madam Chair, the Department of Health and Social Services is part of the steering committee on the wellness court, and a similar process is underway related to the Integrated Case Management Pilot Project here in Yellowknife and in Inuvik, so we’re working closely with the Department of Health and Social Services on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do have opening comments.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think that information was provided to committee about two weeks ago. We could perhaps bring it back. I’ll go to Ms. Haener, but I think the level of detail the Member is looking for was supplied to P and P two weeks ago.

I apologize. I didn’t mention this in my response during my previous opportunity. We have five new positions in the legal division. We have one new position that is specific to ATIPP. So there must have been a little bit of a misunderstanding there. That’s five new lawyers, one of them will specialize in prosecution and one ATIPP position, as well, just to be clear. I thank the Member for his questions. Thank you.

I appreciate the Member’s concern and his questions. I guess the main thing is providing a service to communities across the Northwest Territories. If you look at a community like Tsiigehtchic, the RCMP have been working closely with the community leadership in Tsiigehtchic. We have plans now to overnight officers in the community, I believe it’s eight days out of the month.

I mentioned in response to some of Mr. Menicoche’s opening comments that that might be a model we want to look at in Wrigley, for example, or perhaps in Gameti. Those are discussions I made a commitment to earlier, to going...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we can get that level of the detail for the Member.

I don’t have the exact number of trappers in the Sahtu that we are tracking, but that’s certainly a number I could get for the Member. What I do know, and I know the Member mentioned it himself, is the amount of dollars that are flowing directly back to trappers across the Northwest Territories, and this is money that gets right back into the local economy and, in most cases, into the smaller communities. Last year that was $2.8 million directly back to trappers across the Territories, so it’s a significant amount of money that gets back into the economy.

Mr. Chairman, that increase was for the legal division in support of devolution. Thank you.