Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have one more set of questions for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, there is a facility formerly occupied by the Northern Addictions Services in Detah, which I believe the government had some financial interest in and this facility has come back into the ownership and control of the GNWT. I’d like to ask Minister Krutko, Mr. Speaker, what is the status of the use of that facility at this time? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, by the way, I’m very encouraged to hear that the Arctic Tern is not just being used as a facility for incarceration, but that there is programming that is available as an alternative. That’s the first time that I heard that. I don’t sit on the Social Programs committee anymore, and that is very good news. That’s the kind of innovative, responsive way we need to deal with some of these issues. We have to think outside of how things have traditionally been done. Is there any other programming, Mr. Speaker, available to assist communities besides the youth...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in keeping with my Member’s statement earlier today with respect to youth in our communities that are having a difficult time with certain issues, I had posed my questions previously to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I’d now like to ask some questions to the Minister of Justice on the same vein, and I hope the Minister of Justice will show a little more enthusiasm for the problem and the issue because it is very, very serious and I don’t want to hear oh, there’s really nothing we can do, and it’s a complicated issue. I know it’s a complicated...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So just so we understand then, if we are dealing with, for example, a 16-year-old who is, as you say, near adulthood and that youth does not want to comply with any kind of a structured plan of care or program, there is nothing that we can do short of them being apprehended by officials associated with justice because of a criminal act. So if they want to run, if they want to hide, if they want to just wreak havoc in the community, what you are saying is there are no resources available to this government or anywhere else to deal with these young people. Is that what...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member’s statement today, I think that we are hearing more and more now of youth who are troubled and causing all kinds of incidents to occur in the communities in which they reside. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my statement, this is not just a one department or one agency or one community issue. This is a northern issue. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, what is in place right now for youth who are either needing treatment for addictions or needing treatment for behavioural problems. What options and tools are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have an emerging crisis in the NWT related to some of our youth. All we have to do is turn our news broadcast on and we are hearing of new levels of vandalism, acts of violence and this amongst youth of alarmingly young ages.

There have been changes to the Young Offenders Act as precipitated by precedence set by the federal government. The move is away from incarceration towards other alternatives and a community approach to young offenders. This is well and good, but what are we doing to offer support to youth, families, and communities, who are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand it has been vacant for a number of months now and the Minister has shared the kind of operational costs. I think it’s been vacant for six months. If a good proposal for programming out of that facility were to come forward, how soon could that building be up and ready to go in terms of the structure of the facility at this time? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at one time that facility was contemplated as an option for a family treatment centre for families that had issues with addictions. I was wondering, Mr. Speaker, if the Minister would consider applications or proposals from either NGOs or the Department of Health and Social Services for a use like that for that facility. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it would assure me if I knew that young people who are incarcerated in young offenders’ facilities were able to receive programming which would address some of the issues in their lives which lead them to be in trouble with the law in the first place. I know, for example, through the young offenders’ facility in Hay River, at one time they did have a very good lands program for the youth which is intended to rehabilitate them. I think it was a program with a considerable amount of merit. So could the Minister please tell us, for those who are incarcerated...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So if there are fewer young offenders being incarcerated, then it follows that there are other options and alternatives that are contemplated when these young people do run into trouble with the law. I would like to know what those alternatives are at the community level. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.