Glen Abernethy

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to recognize one of the Lifeguards for Lodune from the Great Slave riding, Ms. Jennifer Pitt. I would also like to recognize Lodune’s mother, Dehga, as well as Lodune’s grandparents, Gabrielle Mackenzie-Scott and Patrick Scott, all constituents of the Great Slave riding. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. With me today on my left is Gary MacDougall, the director of legal registries; and on my right, Ian Rennie, legal counsel.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to be here today to talk to you about Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Justices of the Peace Act. I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Social Programs for its review of the bill.

Justices of the peace fulfill an important role within the justice system of the Northwest Territories. They serve in communities where they work and live, performing a range of judicial and quasi-judicial functions. Justices of the peace carry out duties on a part-time basis and generally preside over summary conviction matters arising out of the territorial statutes...

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Prior to actually moving ahead with the construction of the new hospital, there was a technical evaluation and investment analysis done on the old hospital which clearly demonstrated that the renovation and upgrading of the old hospital would have been far more costly than building the new hospital. There are a number of issues there: age, condition, and costs associated with renovating that building and bringing it up to a standard acceptable for the GNWT.

Having said that, we did move forward with the construction of the new hospital. When the building is empty and the...

Mr. Speaker, community safety is a critical priority for the Government of the Northwest Territories. We need to look out for each other and make our neighbourhoods places with a strong sense of well-being. Everyone needs to feel safe and be safe.

Earlier this month Yellowknifers came together to hold a conversation on community safety. My thanks to Ms. Bisaro for the role she played as moderator for the evening. I was also pleased to welcome other MLAs and community leadership to the discussion. The meeting was well-attended by the public and included members from the Coalition Against Family...