Glen Abernethy

I’m committed to taking it through the process. I’ve already made that commitment to the House a number of times both today and previously. We will follow it through the normal legislative process, which includes going to committee, spending 120 days with committee, and then going to the House for, hopefully, first, second and third reading.

Thank you. The memorandum of understanding and the policy went live on April 1, 2013. We tried to get that information out as best we could. We’ve included it on our website; we’ve got it out in Bear Facts a number of times. We had a joint letter go out with the UNW to all UNW representatives in the Northwest Territories, and to date, we’ve actually had nobody take us up on this policy and program.

Mr. Speaker, the GNWT is recognized as one of Canada's top Diversity Employers in 2013 for the initiatives we've undertaken to enhance opportunities for Aboriginal people, persons with disabilities and other under-represented groups. The GNWT is committed to developing and maintaining a public service representative of the people we serve across the NWT.

The Department of Human Resources, in conjunction with the Aboriginal Human Resource Council, is conducting an Aboriginal Inclusion Survey among GNWT employees, focusing on recruitment and retention of Aboriginal persons. The survey will gather...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Justices of the Peace Act, be read for the third time.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Today with me on my right is Kelly McLaughlin, the director of legislation with the Department of Justice.

I do, Mr. Chair.

Just for clarity, RCMP infrastructure funding is covered under a completely different budget supported by Public Safety Canada. They are the ones who, through the 20-year contract, are responsible for the capital, and obviously we continue to let them know what capital is important, including capital and facilities for RCMP.

Coming back to this one, it would be impossible to build upon the honour fence that the contractor of the housing development is building. That’s going to be more of a standard chain-link fence with some barrier in it so we can’t see through it. It’s about breaking sight...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The irony is not lost on me that today I’m sitting here defending this fence when six years ago I was sitting almost in exactly the same seat you are throwing this, actually, exact line out of the budget. At that time, six years ago, what I wanted to know, and what committee wanted to know, was what has changed in the facility. The facility was originally designed for territorial inmates two years less a day at a certain security level. At that time we were asking, why does it need a fence when it was originally designed without one. Those are questions I asked before I...

I do, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, this exact issue came up when I was travelling through Hay River earlier this summer. Residents of Hay River asked roughly the same question. At that point, I did go back to the Department of Health and Social Services and the Minister. We talked about the individual programs that are currently offered or may be offered. I was assured at the time that all the functions that exist within the hospital, with the exception of the 10 long-term care beds, were accounted for in some capacity in Hay River, whether it’s in the new building or somewhere else in the community I do not recall...