Glen Abernethy

Once the research is done and we take it to committee to have a discussion, if that is the wish of committee, I would be happy to take it forward. Thank you.

Quite honestly, the vast majority of the knowledge, skills, and ability these people have is on-the-job training. Whether they started in a law firm or whether they started working in a community where they had an opportunity to deal with legal issues, we take people who have the capacity and desire and we train them on the job, to be quite honest.

Madam Chair, it is an RCMP officer located in headquarters providing services to the entire Northwest Territories reporting to the commanding officer or very close to it. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I don’t know. I’m happy to get that information for you.

As I’ve indicated, there are a significant number of alternate opinions on this one, so before we implement something, we do have to take it through the public process. We do have to take it through my colleagues on that side of the House to make sure that everybody’s informed and that we make an informed decision. Once that’s done, whether it’s legislation or policy or procedure, we will do as the House directs. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think the court workers are an incredibly important role. I definitely want to see them continue. We will be looking for ways to utilize them more effectively and enhance their role.

I could do that but it would be different for every community. In some communities that may be true. Other communities it may not be true. Depends what we negotiate in cooperation with the communities and the RCMP. It’s hard to say.

I’m just going to make a couple of comments for Mr. Bromley and then I’ll just go to Kim for some of the specifics.

The three key messages and priorities from the coalition building upon the 19 are social media campaign – I’m happy to sit down with the Member and share the document that I had – the program for men who use violence, which is a 24-week program; and community outreach. Quite frankly, I asked them for some additional information on what they mean by a social media campaign and what they would like to envision seeing. I haven’t got that back from them yet. I’m happy to have a...

There’s not much point. It’s already been done. The numbers are consistent. It takes into consideration the addition of all Class A and Class B buildings since the report was done. They’re built in there. We’re confident. The contract has been awarded. The building is being built as we speak. The ground will break in September. We’re making next steps. At the end of the day this building is going to save the people of the Northwest Territories significant money, money that we can once again roll into the program. Given the history of buildings in Yellowknife it’s not going to have a...

We were able to fill our three positions and we’re optimistic that we’ll be able to fill our fourth one, should it be passed by way of supp. We have been able to fill our positions. One of our biggest challenges here in the Northwest Territories is a shortage of the local Bar. There’s not enough lawyers here that are private, independent lawyers. Not government lawyers. We’ve filled ours. There is definitely a shortage of local Bar.