R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Speaking as the Minister of Justice, I can tell the Members that the conversations about resourcing in the Northwest Territories for RCMP are ongoing. There's always conversations happening. The RCMP are looking at their workload and bringing forward proposals to the GNWT. So that's always happening.

In the Member's region, we've added, I believe, RCMP every year since I've been Minister. So we have been increasing the number of RCMP in the territory, including at Fort McPherson, and that is the community that serves Tsiigehtchic. So while it's not a perfect situation...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So during this Assembly, I look forward to seeing how we can address some of the issues that we face with housing at large in the territory. I know when we talk about housing, it's often subsidized housing but there's issues with market housing as well. And so with that focus and with the review of the Residential Tenancies Act, I think we can make some progress in this area. But as I stated before, it's up to the individual to bring forward their complaints. It would be ideal if we had the people and the budget to go around and do these inspections and have a very...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Residential Tenancies Act will be reviewed during this government so all of those issues can be looked at. The access to the rental officer, any barriers that tenants might be facing; we can look at all of that. I cannot commit to remove any barrier that a tenant might be facing, but we do want to make the process as easy and simple as possible so that we can achieve the goals of the act. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Vince McKay will be absent from the House today and tomorrow to attend meetings of the federal, provincial, territorial Ministers responsible for emergency management in Ottawa. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member from Yellowknife South, that the motion be postponed to Thursday, February 22nd, 2024. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This decision was made by me as Attorney General in the last government. The Attorney General makes decisions in a way that is apolitical. There is no desire to put a political lens on these decisions. What was in question was a very specific legal question. It wasn't we weren't fighting any Indigenous governments. We weren't on side with the provinces. The reason that I intervened in that case is because there was specific language in that federal Act that we needed clarity on in relation to how it interacted with the NWT Act. That's not an issue for any of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize the chiefs as the Premier, so I'd like to recognize Chief Betsina and Chief Sangris. We always appreciate when they show up in the House, and I look forward to continuing to work with them over the next four years. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following eight documents: Northwest Territories Coroner Service 2022 Annual Report; 34th Annual Report 20222023 Victims Assistance Committee of the Northwest Territories; Administration of the Northwest Territories Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act Annual Report 20222023; Department of Justice Corrections Service Annual Report 20222023; Northwest Territories Law Foundation 40th Annual Report for the Period Ending June 30, 2022; Legal Aid Commission of the Northwest Territories Annual Report 20222023; Annual Report on the Activities of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We were happy to see that the decision was in line with the principles that we are already upholding, so we will continue to do what we're doing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the access privacy office has seen an increase in requests and an increase in the complexity of those requests. I'm not sure if there's a huge public demand. It's a relatively small group of people that are being served by that office. There's companies, there's lawyers, there's individuals who are requesting documents that, you know, end up being tens of thousands or thousands of pages. Every single one of those pages has to be found, discovered by someone in say, for example, MACA, who has two people working fulltime to fill these requests for a very very very...