David Ramsay

Thank you, Madam Chair. In developing community policing plans, the RCMP do work with communities around the Northwest Territories and community leaders. As I mentioned to MLA Moses, there are protocols in place, when it comes to emergency events in a community, on how things will happen. I am going to be providing him with some further detail on that – response times – and we can share that with the rest of committee as well.

We also need to continue to dialogue with the RCMP and also with the community members. Crime Stoppers is certainly a good avenue for community members who want to report...

Mr. Chair, the coroner would participate, if asked, in a conference or an opportunity like that, but we do not have a budget for an educational component.

As far as Health and Social Services goes, they have programs, also DOT, on the high-risk behaviour. You know the helmet program that we had. There are problems out there through a number of different government departments that, hopefully, especially young people are paying attention to and taking part in. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the Members for sharing their general comments with me. There are a few areas of concern that overlapped most Members.

I guess what I would like to start out with, and I know was raised by a number of Members, was policing in smaller communities and the need to look at services. We do provide services, especially a community like Gameti or Wrigley, Tsiigehtchic are serviced by the RCMP.

Just to put it into perspective, today there are 12 communities in the Northwest Territories that do not have a detachment. Three of those communities are within a 30-minute...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, we can.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The wellness court is on this page. The integrated case management is under community justice.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, we do. That would have been part of the RFP package and something we would be able to share with Members as well. Thank you.

That’s not how it works. The turnover government-wide on an annual basis is about 10 percent. Last year the government turned over roughly 600 positions government-wide. I’ll ask Deputy Minister Haener to help explain why that’s not the case.

Yes, the RCMP would respond, and there are other departments, there’s ourselves and Health and Social Services that would have programs and services available to people as they need it. It depends on the community; it depends on the situation. I guess every situation would be different, but yes, if need be, the RCMP would look to involve us. We would be ready and able to provide some information to people that would require some services. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We’re moving forward with the plans for wellness court. We will be in front of committee for a detailed presentation on Monday, February 24th. So on Monday we’ll be in front of the Standing Committee on Social Programs. I look forward to Members’ input on our plans thus far. Our anticipation is to have the wellness court up and running this year. It will happen. We’ve got some funding to see that happen and we want to get Members’ feedback on Monday on our progress to date. Thank you.

Workforce development falls under the mandate of Education, Culture and Employment, and certainly the Member is right. I think going forward it’s incumbent upon the government to work together, all the departments, all the Ministers and this government to come up with a game plan. I’ve heard many Members talk about our young folks that are out at school and trying to get them back here to the Northwest Territories and not lose them to opportunities in the South. That’s something that’s very important to me and I know it’s important to the government. Thank you.