Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. Are there any advancements or talks about increased RCMP presence in Tsiigehtchic?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm looking at the community justice committees line on 280. I notice last fiscal's actuals were $1,658,000, and we have the same budget of $2 million. So there's, you know, there's about $500,000 there that's not being spent. Can I just get an explanation why, and is the reason because we just are not always having community justice committees operate in all of the communities? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So I kind of get the math here. It makes sense for the Housing Corp to build RCMP units because then we get the 70 percent rate covered under the agreement thus giving the Housing Corp a little revenue. Is this $809,000 our portion or is this then under the 70/30 split? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm sure the Minister will keep us apprised of his different approach.

One of the things I would really like the Minister to look into is tieing our minimum wage to inflation. I know we have the second highest right now, but we're kind of in a tie with Yukon and BC and it looks like Yukon's going to pass us on April 1 when inflation goes up. And so we're kind of in this constant battle where we have a political choice to raise the minimum wage as opposed to many jurisdictions who just automatically raise it with inflation. Is pegging the minimum wage to the consumer...

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I believe I will be seeing that in a SUP.

Can the Minister provide I know there's quite a bit of money coming forward from the RCMP collective agreement, and the big question is the retroactive number. I know this is conversation happening all across Canada. Does the Minister have any update on when and how much we are expecting to see retroactively for the collective agreement?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are some conflicting views on raising the minimum wage and what the minimum wage should be established. These views were well sought out in the minimum wage committee report, and if that was a public document people could see that debate but it's not, Mr. Speaker.

Some economists feel raising the minimum wage brings inflation while others say it actually helps the economy by increasing purchasing power of citizens.

However, Mr. Speaker, there's one thing we can all agree on, that the cost of living in the Northwest Territories is way too high and living on $15.20...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can the Minister just enlighten me a little about how our police contract works with requests from the RCMP for more staff? We are padding another $2 million to the policing budget. It's been on a bit of an upward trend. As the Minister noted, we've added officers to another community number of communities. I'm just does the Minister have to agree to these? Is there some sort of arbitration when the RCMP say they need more resources? I'm just kind of curious how we negotiate with the RCMP the appropriate level of resourcing. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I recognize it would probably take some concerted effort and, you know, I know we lost we've really been losing our courthouses outside of Yellowknife, and the one in Hay River is really not doing what it used to let alone Inuvik. So I think it would take a very concerted effort by the Department of Justice.

I'm just curious, we have a remote work policy now and there's a possibility for people in Yellowknife to work outside. And, you know, I suspect there is actually probably a few lawyers in the territory who would be willing to relocate to a community for...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I'll just make some comments here.

You know, Scotland I'm going to step out a little. Scotland presented passed a presumption of short sentences of three months. They just said it didn't make it sense to jail people for that long. They lose employment. They lose housing. And that was so successful they actually made it for a sentence of less than a year. They just don't put people in jail for less than a year. They use probation, alternative measures, treatment, whatever else. And I think, you know, if we did that we would have no one left in prison. Anyone...

Thank you, Madam Chair. During I believe it was the capital budget, we were talking, and our corrections are at an alltime low. Part of this is, we suspect, due to COVID and the courts have been shut down but also just a number of other factors. I was just wondering if the Minister had an update of whether we're seeing any trends that the number of inmates is going to go back up? Thank you.