Glen Abernethy

Mr. Speaker, sustainable, vibrant and safe communities is one of the goals of this Assembly. To help achieve this goal, the Government of the Northwest Territories has made it a priority for all NWT communities to have a community policing plan in place. Last year was the first year all 33 communities had dedicated plans in place based on their own needs, resources and priorities.

These formal plans and the reporting structure were put into place several years ago. The difference the plans are making is evident. We now have communities participating in a full consultation to outline their...

I’ve had a lot of conversations with the commanding officer of “G” Division where I’ve indicated that education is very important in the Northwest Territories. Having the RCMP engage with students is a priority. I do know that a number of the detachments have been very active with community groups and things like the Not Us! campaign. As I’ve already indicated, I do know that in a number of communities, the communities have made that a priority as well. I’ll continue to have the conversations with the commanding officer of “G” Division and continue to encourage him to engage our communities...

I don’t have that information at the tip of my fingers, but I will commit to getting that information for the Member and committee. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time, we’re not planning a thorough review of the Affirmative Action Policy. We were always looking for input, guidance and advice on how we can improve our policies and procedures in the best interest of our employees and, by default, the residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the department is actually currently developing an evaluation framework to assess the success of the campaign and to inform future direction on the program. I don’t have a timeline for it, but I will commit to getting you some additional information during this sitting so that we can have an idea when that evaluation framework will be in place and when we can actually expect to see results. Of course, I am happy to share any results that we come forward with, with committee and with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Not Us! program is actually quite a successful program. We have it in 20 out of the 33 communities. It starts with a $10,000 start-up and a $5,000 ongoing fee or ongoing allowance to help maintain the program. Right now we have enough money in the budget to cover the communities and there is no plan to increase the allocation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Obviously we’re committed to try and get the lowest prices for fuel in the 16 communities that we provide fuel to and we’re always looking for ways to decrease the cost. As far as subsidy on transportation, I’m not sure that that would actually lower the cost, because the GNWT would still have that cost on them, but I’m interested to have a further conversation with the Member and possibly with committee to get their thoughts on this. But we’re always looking for ways to control the cost of fuel in our 16 communities. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we do fuel hauls into the different communities depending on their location. In the summertime we provide fuel by barge to some of the communities in the High Arctic. In some communities, we bring it in by ice road. Prices are reviewed every time we bring new fuel into the community.

Once again, it is a full cost-recovery program based on the cost of the fuel that we purchase and have provided to the communities. Mahsi.

We, obviously, want a public service that represents the population that we serve, and as such, we have put in a number of these programs to help us attain that. I’m interested in what the Member has to say and I’d be happy to sit down and have a conversation with the Member to see what we can do, and discuss it further with committee as well.

I’ve had an opportunity to travel to a lot of the communities in the Northwest Territories with the Member, as well, and had an opportunity to participate in the hand games, which I thoroughly lost. I do understand the value of these types of activities and initiatives but, once again, this program is really designed to help the individual employees who happen to be in Yellowknife or other communities where maybe the hand games aren’t taking place.

As a government, we do encourage our employees who live in smaller communities to engage and become part of the communities and I would hope to see...