Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Madam Chair. With respect to the digital aspects of our GNWT human resource systems, we have been moving in that way for some time. We have PeopleSoft, which is our main human resource management system, and we, in the last couple of years, have added some additional modules to that. One of them was eRecruit, which is now used for all staffing actions in the Northwest Territories and has proven to be quite effective.

In this capital plan what we’re proposing is putting in our ePerformance module into PeopleSoft, and it’s kind of the perfect time to do it, because we are updating...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m not actually sure I understand the question 100 percent. We do have internal systems in the Government of the Northwest Territories within the Department of Justice both in courts and corrections and we do maintain those programs in house. Those programs are getting quite old and we are going to need to look at upgrading those programs shortly. But I’m not sure I fully understood your question.

Yes, I do, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The question that was asked earlier was how many youth female offenders we have in custody. We have one. That female offender is at the youth facility here in Yellowknife which also contains male youth. So there isn’t one person in that facility; there are a larger number of individuals. There are seven individuals in that facility here in Yellowknife, not one. I’m not sure if that clarity changes the question.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. “Public Service. Public Focus.” is the motto of 20/20: A Brilliant North, the NWT Public Service Strategic Plan. Our ability to provide quality programs and services is clearly linked to recruiting and retaining talented staff who are committed to their professions, their communities and the people they serve. The public service is the face of the Government of the Northwest Territories.

20/20: A Brilliant North guides the ongoing development of the NWT public service, with the aim of making the GNWT an employer of choice. There are real advantages to working for the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m going to go to Ms. Bronwyn Watters for some of that answer. To start off with, the planning that is being done for the facility in Fort Smith, the women’s facility does include a significantly larger capacity to deal with future trends that have been predicted within the department. I’ll go to Ms. Bronwyn Watters for a more comprehensive answer.

With respect to the future facility in Fort Smith, the planning study has been done, and it includes a needs analysis and operational plan, a facility program and a schematic design. We’ve already got that done. A rough cost-estimate of Class C. So we’re ready to go. When some money identifies, we’ll be standing in the line, asking for those dollars for that facility.

With respect to the Arctic Tern facility in Inuvik, a report came out in the 16th Assembly about the facility and how it’s not suitable as a corrections facility due to security concerns, doors being able to shut and whatnot. The...

This is actually one of the areas that we have been struggling with, is trying to figure out actually when we are going to start feeling the impacts of Bill C-10. I am not 100 percent sure, but we understand that parts of Bill C-10 could be implemented as early as six months from now, half a year. It is hard to say, but we are attempting to quantify it. As we get more information and we feel closer to that, I am happy to share that with committee, absolutely.

Thank you, Madam Chair. As a Regular Member in the 16th Assembly I had an opportunity to tour the female facility and also participate in a number of briefings on what the government needed to do with respect to the female facility in Fort Smith. It’s certainly something that’s a priority for the department. We need to get it done. It’s already gone through the design phase. We’re pretty much ready to go. It’s a financial issue. As the Minister of Finance has continually said, we’re strapped for cash right now. Until we have some free room, we have to keep trying to get it onto the books and...

It appears to be a bit of a contradiction. I’m not sure if I fully understand. If the Member wants us to do a cost-benefit analysis, we are going to have to know the costs that exist in the southern jurisdictions. That was where that comment came from.

When we are planning our facilities, we have to go through a number of processes to determine the costs. To do those analyses, we also have to identify what all the costs in the facility will be, including the human resources and all the other costs that are going to come down the pipes. That needs to be part of our planning process. This...