Louis Sebert

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right is Martin Goldney, deputy minister, and to my left, Mandi Bolstad, director of corporate services, Department of Justice. Thank you.

We are always looking at ways to improve the service. I think that we will be looking at wait times. The current wait time, if I can put it that way, for the hearing date is between two and three months, which is consistent with other jurisdictions. However, if it appears that wait times are becoming too lengthy, and they may be, clearly we can look at the appointment of a second rental officer. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, we do not generally deal with the operations on the detachment-by-detachment level. There has to be a fair amount of operational flexibility with the RCMP because events may occur that require a lot of resources. I do not think any of the money is being wasted. I could ask the commanding officer to attend before committee, if I receive that request. Of course, it would be up to him. Again, we do not have that sort of breakdown by detachment-by-detachment. I do believe that the operational flexibility I spoke of is required so that the police can carry out their duties, and I would...

I am told that it has to do with licenses related to exploratory work under the Oil and Gas Regulations and Operations Act.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Government of the Northwest Territories' Response to Committee Report 3-18(2): Report on the Review of the 2014-2015 Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission Annual Report." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

These issues were examined at our retreat last August, and one of the important issues is to determine whether the Ombudsman has the power to initiate investigations. I understand, in the jurisdictions that do have an Ombudsman, the answer to that question is yes. I'm not sure that the Yukon Ombudsman has that power yet; I think they are seeking it. So it would seem that the trend, if I can put it that way, is towards the Ombudsman having that type of power. So when the legislative proposal comes forward, committee -- in fact, this Caucus -- will have to determine whether that's the route we...

Yes, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned earlier, the police, of course, do work with every community to assess their needs for policing. Certainly, I am willing to work with the RCMP and discuss the facts and figures that have been presented today. However, it may be, where there are few complaints and many patrols, that they were complaints of the most serious type. It does not mean that one place is over-policed and another place is under-policed. I am pretty confident in saying, the nature of the complaint is a partial determining factor in whether the RCMP will make a patrol or not. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are looking at that very issue as part of the ATIPP review. Obviously, it is not a large revenue item. I do not know what legislation says in other jurisdictions. Clearly, you do not want fees to be an impediment to reasonable requests for information. I imagine in past times there was concern that the government might be overwhelmed, or the ATIPP people might be overwhelmed by requests for information that were not terribly serious. Whether that is an issue or not, I do not know. It is an issue, obviously, that we are looking at, because we do not want to have people...

I haven't had any formal engagement with the public at large. I can advise, however, that around this table, the Cabinet is extremely experienced in this matter. We are very experienced and competent Ministers. We have discussed this. Our position simply is, as you have heard earlier, that the present manner of dealing with contact between Cabinet Ministers and industry is sufficient.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is actually in the section services to the public. I wonder if we could hold off the question until we reach that section. Thanks, Mr. Chair.