Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that program is available in four communities: Yellowknife, Fort Smith, Tlicho, and Liidlii Kue. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And so I understand the program is fairly new but are we sort of monitoring -- I am not sure if it's considered a pilot or not. But are we monitoring how well this program works or is doing with an eye to potentially expanding in the future; is that part of the long-term plan? Are we, you know, keeping data and keeping track of what benefits there are, yeah, to potentially expand in the future. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, this is a pilot program, and it's funded under the guns and gangs funding. And we'll have to have a look at the program once the pilot is complete. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thanks. And, finally, can you just confirm when is the pilot phase complete, so when will we see some analysis of, you know, what's been accomplished and any proposal to expand; what's the timeline on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't have the timeline on the completion -- Oh, my apologies. It will run to 2026 -- the end of 2027 fiscal year. So we do have some indicators that we will be monitoring, so:
Number and type of referrals;
Number and type of program partnerships established;
Number of clients and their time in the program;
Number of years involved with the justice system;
Number and type of wellness plan outcomes attained, whether that be housing, cultural supports, employment or counselling;
Number of recontacts with justice system after involvement with the program;
Voluntary participant program feedback; and,
Client challenges and successes.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. Are there any further questions on pages 303?
I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate it. I just have another question I wanted to ask.
For the gun and gang strategy, can the Minister provide an update on how this funding has meaningfully addressed violence in the NWT. So are there metrics that are being tracked with relation to this strategy to determine whether it's successful.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will pass to the deputy minister.
Deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And this is a federal agreement that we have -- when we receive federal funding for. So for all those agreements, we have to have a reporting and monitoring and those are generally within the agreement. Some of the items used under this four-year federal funding -- this goes until 2028, are community-based action's already underway, including school drug awareness sessions, community toolkits on toxic drugs, partner training, and then we just mentioned the new justice navigator pilot to support safer reintegration after court or custody. Those are the items in this -- dealing with this fund. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is the reporting under this fund something that Members have access to publicly? Is there somewhere we can find this on the justice department website or are they simply able to provide us with reporting? Thanks.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the program itself will be online. The funding agreements are internal but we can provide that information. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that commitment from the Minister. And yeah, it's really not so much reporting on the funding agreement itself but just the outcomes that are being achieved through the funding. That's where I am interested in getting some information. And if I could just build upon the question.
What the deputy minister communicated back, I mean, going into schools, there was a couple of different items there, but what I didn't hear anything about was actual law enforcement related to the gangs themselves, or guns for that matter. So, you know, forgive me here, but when I hear gun and gang strategy, I am going to assume that it is focused on addressing gun crime, gang-related crime. Can the Minister perhaps clarify a little bit for us what exactly this funding is intended for and what it's looking to achieve.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will pass to the deputy minister.
Thank you. I will go to the deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's an unfortunate name, in all honesty, for this fund. Jurisdictions are able to use it. There's some flexibility to use it for different things. We've always used it for prevention, with youth specifically, to have them not, you know, enter the criminal justice system, try to keep them out, out of the criminal justice system and have programs and opportunities to keep them out of the system. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And that certainly is a good clarification to have. And I want to be clear, it's work that I support. We definitely want to keep youth from entering the criminal justice system. If these programs are helping to do that, which I am looking forward to seeing in the reporting that we've asked for, I'd be happy to see that. But I think that residents would probably be interested to hear about what police are doing about -- I know that there's been a lot of news stories, at least in my community over the past number of years, of, you know, criminal -- organized criminal elements -- forgive my wording there -- organized crime effectively sending people to the North to conduct crime, and they are victimizing people in our communities and that this has been a growing problem. We've been seeing gun crime starting to grow. And it seems like a lot of it is coming from the outside as opposed to internally. So I am wondering if that is being addressed by some program or if that is more just kind of -- just falls under general policing duties. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the crime reduction unit would sort of fit into this area, and it is funded through the TPSA. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay. And thank you. I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Okay. And just we're always kind of flying by the seat when we're going through these pages. Can the Minister just clarify would now be the time to ask about those questions, or is that at a later page?
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, those questions would be more suitable later when we get into the section on policing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Appreciate that tip from the Minister, and I will save my questions for then. Thanks.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, for your indulgence. Can the Minister clarify if this is a good place to ask about the community safe safety officer pilot? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you for that clarity, Mr. Chair, and to the Minister. It's my understanding that there was an evaluation of this pilot. Is that -- and I am just -- I am looking at the business plan, and the dates seem a little bit off to me. It might have been just a typo. So I am just trying to understand if that evaluation of the pilot is being enacted now or is completing now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, a comprehensive evaluation of the program is underway to identify strengths, gaps, and opportunities for improvement. A RFP was put out in January, and the final report is expected by the end of March 2026. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, that's helpful information. The business plan has different dates, so I appreciate the update. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's all.
Okay, thank you. Is there any further questions from Members? Okay, thank you. No further questions, please turn to page 303.
Justice, community justice, $6,791,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to corrections, beginning on page 306, with information items on page 308 and 309. Are there any questions?
I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In terms of active positions, it looks like two positions are being reduced from corrections service, one in the Sahtu and one in the North Slave. Can the Minister explain what those two positions are that are proposed to be lost? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
