Okay. No further questions on this page. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from Monfwi.
Thank you. For justice of the peace, I know at one time we had a justice of the peace position. I just want to ask the Minister if that position is currently active. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are a number of justice of the peace across the Northwest Territories. I don't have the specific locations of all of those judges. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Monfwi.
Okay, thank you for that information. I know it was just recently we had one.
Another one too is that there's -- for correctional services, there's two in Tlicho region. And there's -- in Tlicho region, we have three active positions. Are those two -- can the Minister explain to me where these positions are located.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Those are two probation officers and one court worker, all in Behchoko. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Monfwi.
So because correctional services, it says two, so those are the probation officers. Are they currently -- are they active? Are they all active? Like, right now, are they filled? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We're happy to get back to the Member with that information; I don't have that in front of me. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Monfwi.
Okay, thank you. Because we're -- court services or active positions -- I need to get my -- Okay, here -- because we're on 311? Okay, 311. Court -- okay, no, this doesn't have that but court services, there's North Slave, 57. 57 positions, are they all -- can the Minister explain to me which -- what are these 57 positions that the court services that's in North Slave region? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, those would be positions in the Yellowknife courthouse. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Monfwi.
Okay, thank you. Yeah, there are 57 active positions in North Slave, and there's nothing in Tlicho region. Because this North Slave, it's all Yellowknife, you know. I am sure -- and there's nothing for Deh Cho and Sahtu. So is there a plan in place that maybe the department -- you know, have they ever considered transferring some of these position out to some of the small communities in the regions? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. These are the positions within the Yellowknife courthouse that support the Territorial and Supreme Court as well as -- not the Territorial and Supreme Court, but support the justice department within that facility to support the courts in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Monfwi.
Okay. That's a lot of positions to support the court services. And it also goes the same for the correctional services. There's, like, 200 and -- what was it -- there's over 200 positions that's in North Slave region to guard our young people. No, 122 positions in North Slave Correctional Centre and South Slave Correctional Centre. That's a lot of position to guard -- can the Minister tell me how many -- how many inmates are in the North Slave and in South Slave? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as of today, there are 141 inmates in the North Slave Correctional Centre. And in the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre, there are 14. And in the Fort Smith Correctional Centre, there are 13. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Monfwi.
Thank you. So there's -- I think the Minister said 140 in North Slave? Is that what -- and South Slave, 14. And to guard 14, we have 73 people to guard or to work with them. So I just wanted to ask the Minister if there's any improvement made in this area because that's a large -- there's a lot of people that are working over there, and I am sure a majority of them are Indigenous youth or Indigenous young people. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The facilities all run 24 hours a day/365 days a year, and that's the reason that those staffing levels are required. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Monfwi.
Okay, thank you. I just needed to know that. And then I just wanted to ask the Minister if there's -- what kind of services or what are they doing to help our young people that enter justice system. I don't know what kind of program and services they provide over there besides for the wellness. So are some of these positions -- are there educators that can help our young people to get their high school education? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, there are certainly -- there are a number of opportunities within the territorial justice system to take a variety of programming to help assist the inmates to integrate back into, you know, their regular life as their time within the system comes to an end. And, certainly, there's been a focus to try and engage as many of the inmates as possible into those programs.
And if I can, I can just go back to a previous question. The two probation officer positions in Behchoko are filled. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Monfwi.
Okay, thank you. Thank you, that's good information to know. These regional allocations, headquarters, that's Yellowknife. North Slave is Yellowknife. But can the Minister explain to -- can the Minister explain what are these -- they're full-time -- they're previous to upcoming fiscal year is the same. So where are these -- what are these correctional service positions that are located in headquarters? Headquarters is also Yellowknife. North Slave is Yellowknife. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I am going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will pass to the director.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the director.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The corrections service positions that are located in headquarters are the corrections service headquarters administration which would include the director, the assistant director, and their support staff, including regional trainers for the corrections service in the territory. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. Next on my list I have is the Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we're just -- the Standing Committee on Social Development was just in Hay River touring on the Trespass Act and in speaking with the community, we heard about the lack of a sheriff's officer that used to be local to the community that is slowing down the processes of justice such as evictions, process serving, etcetera, and that it was a great benefit to the community when that position was there. Is that position still on the books so to speak; can the Minister speak to the Hay River sheriff. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the challenge with having one position in Hay River was that the sheriff that was based alone was unable to fulfill some of his duties because he was a single resource. So that position is now located in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, the community, including many people who are serving on town council and in the community wellness committee, were very clear that this was a gap in the community. And when I think of my experience with the sheriff's office, I know we were -- we had an officer down there when I was a sheriff, and it was very useful to the operations of the sheriff's office because it allowed the office to more effectively complete the role of the sheriff's office in the community, whether it was evictions, vehicle seizures, property seizures, process serving, court services. It was also used to accompany the court circuits in the South Slave region as well. So I wonder if that can be re-evaluated and, you know, if it is something -- the sheriff's office has expanded greatly since I was there. If there is an issue with resourcing, perhaps move two positions down there. But it just seems like when you have a large community that's going through an awful lot of crime issues related -- well, crime. Just crime. Flat-out crime related to the drug trade. And we have the opportunity to help expedite some of these processes with a simple personnel and resourcing change, it seems prudent to do so, especially if it's going to help the community. So will the Minister reconsider those positions, whether one or more, to better service the community of Hay River which, again, is beset by a lot of issues that these officers could do a lot of good at helping. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, part of the reason for the relocation of the position was that the call for service within that position in the community was minimal and did not require a full-time position for the work that didn't require two officers. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, I am only speaking of the conversations that I recently had in the community, and this did come up. And I am always keeping my ears open for issues related to the sheriff's office because, again, I spent five years of my career there and it was a very transformative process for me to go through. I think the sheriffs do a tremendous amount of good for our communities and could be a resource to address a lot of the gaps that we see out there to support the RCMP and support -- you know, even bylaw officers and enhance community safety rules. And I am always going to keep talking about them. But I would strongly encourage the Minister to really consider whether there is not a need and whether or not this position could be restored and, you know, work around it to make -- to maximize its efficiencies and maybe even look at expanding the role of sheriffs generally. I know in speaking to some of the sheriffs, there's been talks of a Sheriff's Act, you know, to actually lay out the more powers and responsibilities for the sheriffs, you know, talk about expanding their role into other areas of civil and even criminal enforcement, like we see the sheriff's service in Alberta for example. There's lots of opportunities here. And unlike the RCMP, they're directly under our management and control so we have a lot more to say about how they pursue their roles and do their work. We could even move it under the solicitor general so there's even more say that the Minister could have over the sheriff's service. But it just seems like when we have these crisis situations with crime and criminality in the Northwest Territories, we have this uniformed service. They are peace officers. They are trained to do the jobs that we need them to do. We should be using every opportunity to maximize our limited resources as a government. So it's a bit of a rant but, again, I believe strongly in the service. They're professional. They're well trained, incredibly competent, and they can get the job done. And, again, Hay River was sorely missing this position when we spoke to some of the residents. But, I mean, some of those residents were decision-makers so I take their -- I take their commentary quite seriously. So I would encourage the Minister to have that conversation with the community of Hay River and to seriously consider restoring a sheriff's position to the community. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
