R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the children's lawyer provided great value, of course. That position is now vacant. But the person who was in there did a lot of work and it's very appreciated, those efforts. The children's lawyer would meet regularly with the panel of children's lawyers. So there's the Office of the Children's Lawyer, and they essentially oversee a panel of lawyers in various places in the territory, I believe one is also in Edmonton, and they assign cases to those panel lawyers. They would also provide some professional development opportunities, do research, keep up to date on...

Yes, thank you. So the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework, it's actually a federal document. We think it's a good document. We just need some implementation from the federal government. There are pieces here and there, but we really want to see them invest in the spirit of that document. Perhaps I can get the deputy minister to speak some more on this. Thank you.

Thank you for that, those comments. You know, comms, there's never enough communications, there's never enough information out there, and even when it's out there, people can't find it. So this is a it's been a nowin situation I found in my time here. There were discussions about centralizing in the last government. As the Minister of a department, a line department as they're called, I was not supportive of that given that there's the bread and butter communications that departments have to do. And, you know, I was a student when I was first elected and so I know that ECE did a lot of...

Thank you. So that's a pretty big question. The puck has dropped so I will try and keep things short. But there are when we talk about crime and crime reduction, and I always say, you know, enforcement is just one part of it, and the department is responsible for enforcement but also looking at other ways to address those issues. So one program that has been running a few years, although, you know, interrupted with many of the events we have seen as a territory, is the Community Safety Officer Program. So that's one where it is not an enforcement unit. It is community members who work with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have discussed this with the RCMP. They are not making that request for an additional K-9 unit so it's hard for me to force it on them if they're not asking for it. That being said, the landscape has changed. The ability for the dogs to go and do random searches of people essentially is not there anymore. And so we need to look at what other tools we can utilize that are going to be more effective given the new legal environment that we're living in. Thank you.

Thank you. So in this activity that we're discussing, Executive Council offices, there's the Ministers' offices and there's the Premier's offices. I would say that I could use a couple more Ministers to distribute the workload. So it could even get a little more top heavy in this area. But, you know, that's a constant criticism of government, that it's top heavy. We always hear it. But I have to say that in this area here, I think it's probably a little thin. Thank you.

Thank you. We are just looking for that information right now. We should have it it's under Executive Council offices I'm being told. Thank you.

Yes, I do.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The K-9 unit was established in Hay River after the death, the murder, of Constable Chris Worden. And it was stationed there until 2018. That was the time when the RCMP undertook a review of the situation, and they determined that it was not as effective to have the police dog in Hay River. It's a territorial asset. And so if there was an incident in the Sahtu, let's say, they would have to fly to Hay River, get the dog, and then head up. There's a number of other situations as well. I can leave it at that I guess, because things new things have come to light. But...

Thank you. I'd like to through you, Mr. Chair, I would like to hand it to the director.