Louis Sebert

Well, generally speaking, I think it would be better to work through the Yellowknife office, where the commanding officer is. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Essentially, we are doing what other jurisdictions have done some time ago, so this is quite usual in jurisdictions down south. Also, too, many of the decisions of the courts can be accessed on CanLii for no cost, so that won't change. Those cases will still be published, but, if you want a transcript of the whole trial, you may well be looking at some considerable cost. Thank you.

Thank you. I don't think the backlog really has been caused by the lack of drafters of the legislation, but I'll turn it over to Mr. Goldney, perhaps, to expand on that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member opposite is quite correct. In certain communities, homeowners who have reached 65 do have their taxes or a portion of their taxes waived, but that is taxation, and I think it is a program that is just about unique in Canada. No, we haven't been contemplating something similar for land lease fees, but we have of course contemplated lowering those fees and also giving our seniors a 50 per cent break on them.

Yes, I understand that there are more meetings between senior staff and corrections officers than there once were. Hopefully, these problems, if they are problems, won't recur in the future. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Well, I assume that the rates were established by the department in looking at other similar positions or perhaps even other jurisdictions, but I am not certain. I am not certain when the regulations or however the manner in which the JPs are paid were last established, so it might be a little difficult to search our records as to the methodology, but I can simply tell the Member that we will look into it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's not as though the police are only going to these communities in response to criminal activities. So when they do go to the communities, I know their presence is known. I know that, in some of the communities, whether there's a detachment or not, the police are not as busy as they might be, they are quite involved in the communities. So I have no concern about that. Thank you.

In addition, I understand that they will be able to get an audio version if they request. Thank you.

Obviously, that would be an important part of the training. I am not sure whether that specific training has been offered here, yet. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, there are really two types of training. There is the standard field sobriety test called the SFST and, also, evaluations by drug recognition experts. Now, I understand that, currently, there are 10 SFST-trained officers who are located in Hay River, Yellowknife, Inuvik, and Behchoko, and there are also three drug recognition experts, two with the traffic division and one in Yellowknife Detachment. These numbers will doubtless change over time as officers are transferred in and out of the Northwest Territories, but we hope that these numbers will increase.