Louis Sebert

I thank the Member opposite for his question. I meet regularly with the RCMP and will certainly bring up this specific issue. There are many issues that we do discuss, but, clearly, crime reduction is very important amongst them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can appreciate the question, and I know that the Member appreciates that I wasn't here in 2007. However, I can point to certain improvements that have been made since that time. As Members will know, the DVTO Court is very active, and we have such programs as A New Day, so there have been improvements in the system which are being utilized. DVTO, I'm not sure when it started, but it has been in existence for some time, and the A New Day program is newer, I believe, but also has been a success. We believe that these types of programs will reduce the amount of family violence. I mentioned that...

There are far less, Mr. Speaker, than 100 steps. I am pleased to advise the House, [English translation not provided].

There are several stages, and we are only at stage one.

Now, the Member opposite has talked about the information and the plans that we do have. We do not want to intervene between Aboriginal groups and their members. We are consulting with them. They, doubtless, will pass on information to their members. I don't think it would be appropriate or sensible for us to intervene between leadership and members.

Yes, I do remember that there was discussion about that so that prisoners or inmates would be aware of the A New Day Program. I believe some progress has been made, and perhaps I could look into that further and give the Member opposite a fuller answer.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, there are certain programs that I can speak of.

The Corrections Service has implemented a Substance Abuse Management, SAM, Program, Living Without Violence, and Respectful Relationships programming designed to help inmates with shorter sentences, as well as those serving their sentence in the community.

If I might provide more detail with respect to some of those programs, the SAM Program, Substance Abuse Management Program, was launched in 2016, and it has been delivered 36 times. The Violence Prevention and Living Without Violence Program was launched in 2017 and has been...

We do understand that the victim support workers do an incredible job, and it can be particularly difficult. Support for the program, in order to recruit new workers, was another recommendation referred to in the 2014 report.

They do get annual training opportunities, so there is ongoing training that does take place, and in addition, every year the department holds a significant annual training event, where the training provided is typically as a result of victim services providers' requests. Examples include child court accompaniment, critical incident stress debriefing, compassion fatigue...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member opposite for his questions. There was a review in 2014 of victim service coordinators, and I can advise that this program started out in the late 1990s, with funding initially in two communities in the NWT, Yellowknife and Fort Smith. The Government of the Northwest Territories now provides funding for 11 community-based victim services workers in eight communities, including Yellowknife, Fort Smith, Inuvik, Fort Simpson, Behchoko, Fort Good Hope, Tulita, and Hay River. Workers in those communities also provide victim services to surrounding...

I know that regular members are completing a consent law on common sexual assault myths course that was specifically set up to address issues identified in the RCMP Sexual Assault Review and Victim Support Action Plan. Regular members will be required to have completed this course by the end of the fiscal year.

The police are moving ahead as a result of the report that was prepared, that came out in December 2017, but I will continue to explore with the RCMP the possibilities of third-party reporting. Thank you.

Yes. The Member opposite referenced the RCMP report which came out in December 2017, which advocated change on both a national level. I understand that the RCMP has increased training specific to sexual assault investigations, both locally and nationally.