Rylund Johnson

I look forward to continuing those conversations regarding business planning. I believe that the Minister could put forward quite a compelling case that every dollar we spend in alternative measures actually saves us money because it is simply extremely costly to bring people to trial and to hold them in prisons. If we can avoid doing that, it ultimately saves us money, and I believe there are numerous studies showing that.

Mr. Speaker, our MP, Michael McLeod, has been quite a vocal advocate for increasing First Nations policing funding. In this current budget, we passed $47 million to fund the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Justice. I believe there is much work to be done in reforming our criminal justice system. One of the places that is easy to start is the increasing use of alternative measures; that is, not necessarily going through the court system and sentencing people to jail sentences but using healing circles and all sorts of other alternative measures. My question for the Minister of Justice is: during this life of this Assembly, will we increase the use of alternative measures?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak to revising the Business Incentive Policy.

The GNWT spends over $260 million annually on products and services. The GNWT alone can be a primary driver of economic recovery in the NWT through purchasing power. The purpose of the Business Incentive Policy is to give preference to businesses that are owned and operated within the NWT. It is designed to promote economic growth and capacity within NWT businesses and the economy. Yet Members hear from constituents territory-wide of the challenges accessing government procurement opportunities.

Members...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I am in a bit of a hard spot, then. I don't want to vote against this $9 million for the plant in Hay River, but I am very concerned that we actually haven't developed the fishing capacity around the lake to actually meet the demands of the plant that we are planning to build. I think we probably need a few more dollars put into remote collection stations and probably more money put into the infrastructure of individual fishers. I have talked to every single fisher, and they are just struggling to make a profit, let alone fish enough to use this plant that we...

Thank you, Madam Chair. My other understanding of this project is that I recognize we need more fish processing capacity, but by putting it in Hay River you really severely limit a fisher's ability and you end up over-fishing a part of the lake because they simply have to travel to Hay River. Where the second part of this line item comes in, the $500,000 for Great Slave Lake commercial fishery remote collection stations, and I recognize that this is largely an ITI issue and very specific, but can I get a sense of where we are expected to install remote collection stations? Thank you, Madam...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm looking at the fish processing plant in Hay River, and $9 million. I know this went out for tender and then it came significantly over budget and we're carrying it on and there are some plans to adjust. I guess my first question is: how much of this is federal money? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I see $2.4 million for Secure Image Management System upgrade. Can the Minister explain to me what that is? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recognize there is much advocacy work to be done, but I believe we won't make any progress absent this Assembly championing this issue. I'd like to speak briefly about a Yukon First Nation, Kwanlin Dun's, policing program where their own members are the front line of policing services. I believe this has been a success story. Indigenous governments around the world are taking notice. I really believe that we could work with the federal government and in this current political climate championing similar programming in the Northwest Territories. My question for the...

I am happy to hear that we are committed to the 5 percent target, and I hope we can blow right past that number. I believe there are a number of improvements that can be made here. Firstly, NWT prosecutions can start to use alternative measures more. I believe officers should be encouraged to use alternative measures before they ever get to the Crown's office, and I believe we should work with our PPSC, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, to use alternative measures more broadly. Ultimately, we won't get that increase in alternative measures without increased funding and support to our...

I look forward to hearing that timeline. I think, to me, there are two steps. One is getting the portal, and the second is populating it. I recognize it will take some time to get certain data in there. Right now, there is a simple matter of collection and putting it in one place. I believe we could start that work immediately, and then you will get this user feedback from departments and other people looking for this data. Step one, get the portal to exist. Step two, let's populate it. One of my concerns is the GNWT really loves its PDFs. The problem with that: most recently, we published...