Jackson Lafferty

Masi, Madam Speaker. I believe we need to do more work in this area, improvements, so I would like to suggest one area. So far, from what I've heard, I'm voicing concerns for these individuals who cannot speak for themselves. Their parents, their family members came to me, so I'm raising that issue. We are currently being dictated to by a southern firm, I believe it's called Bosco Homes, on how to run this centre. After all these years, why haven't we got a northern contractor providing these valuable services to our children, to provide northern perspectives? Masi, Madam Speaker.

That's the very concern that was brought to my attention, that the psychologist is not there on a frequent basis. Very rarely, a psychologist goes to the site, and by the same time the children are not assisted at the centre. The children have to be taken out of the centre. Those are just real concerns that are brought to my attention by parents and by Northerners in the Northwest Territories. How often is a qualified psychologist on site on any given basis, on a yearly basis? I'd like to know how many times that individual or that psychologist visits the centre.

Yes, I definitely will do, and I clearly hear the Minister's apology. This is an area that, obviously, we need to improve; not only her department, but other departments, as well, so I'll be speaking to that in my probably last and final question.

Myself and my colleagues on this side of the House are getting extremely frustrated with how the government is operating and how our side of the House is being treated. In her letter to me, the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation mentioned that she would like to collaborate with me for the betterment of my constituents. Communication...

Masi, Madam Speaker. [Translation] As Cabinet and Members, we work under this policy. It's in front of us to use, so when these Ministers come into our community, they have to give us notice, two weeks', and send us the documents. This is the question I want to ask the Minister. [End of translation]

As Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, we adhere to what we call a process convention. Madam Speaker, according to the process convention, Section 11(b) states, "Ministers will, whenever possible, provide a minimum of two weeks' advance notice of any public meeting...

This particular facility holds most of the Aboriginal clientele throughout the Northwest Territories and a lot of them came from my region, as well, the Tlicho region. I'd like to know: what kinds of programs are available to these high-risk clients with respect to Aboriginal programming from a northern perspective?

Masi, Madam Speaker. [Translation] I want to ask a question regarding children. They go through difficult times. They have a lot of problems. I want to talk about the treatment. [End of translation] It's been brought to my attention on the territorial treatment centre here in Yellowknife. We have a treatment for clientele ages eight to 12, for those who have emotional, behaviour, or psychiatric difficulties. Madam Speaker, it has been brought to my attention that, at the facility, the centre does not currently have a full-time psychologist on site at the treatment centre, and it has been...

[Translation] The second question I have regarding the process convention is that it's stated in the policy that you give them notice for five days in advance to return your question or written question. They have five days to return that answer. [End of translation]

When the Regular Members request for information from ministerial offices, the general rule of thumb is that the turnaround time should be within five days or less. We understand that, sometimes, five days needs to be extended and, as long as the Minister's office lets Regular Members know about the necessary extension, we are...

Masi, Mr. Chair. What I am trying to get at is those communities that do not have detachments, how do we restrain those individuals who get in trouble? I see first-hand in Gameti, they have a restraining chair in one of the offices at the community government offices; it's just a small room. What if we had, like, five of them, five individuals who are making trouble in the community? We only have two officers who every now and then come and visit the community of Gameti. I am just more concerned about the safety aspects of the community. It's not just my community; there are 10 or 11...

Masi, Mr. Chair. Usually, the RCMP "G" Division would inquire or talk about recruitment process, and they want to recruit people from the communities. Obviously, that requires training, and we, as a Department of Justice, need to be proactive. Because we talk about money, we can identify funds towards that to train our own people to become full-fledged RCMP officers. We can't always say it's "G" Division, that they approve, that they have to come up with the training requirements, training funding. We have to be proactive, as the justice department, to move forward, to say we want to set the...

A lot of our communities do not have a RCMP detachment, and even my region, there are two communities that do not have an RCMP detachment. I fear for the communities, so I am glad the Minister is willing to meet with the chief commanding officer. I am hoping it's sooner than later. Winter roads are open, and all-weather road construction through Whati is happening. As soon as the Minister meets with the chief commanding officer, I would ask the Minister if she could provide the latest update on their discussion on this particular very important matter in my region.