R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So one of the things that I do as Minister of Justice is I set policing priorities for the RCMP G-division, and one of those four priorities is to build and strengthen relationships with Indigenous communities to understand and establish community-driven policing priorities and services. So the RCMP themselves in the communities are, on at least a month basis, supposed to be meeting with leadership, is my understanding, and they share information, they hear back from leadership, and they develop their own community policing plans using that information. So there's...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Member's comments. I speak about this topic quite often, but it's good to get the information out there. Because there is a lot going on. I want residents to be aware that we are doing what we can to deal with these issues.

So the SCAN legislation, which is a legislation that would make it easier to close or shut down buildings that are causing public harm, like a drug house, is going to go out for public consultation this spring. We hope to have a legislative proposal drafted by the summer. That would then go through the normal process where it is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I believe that would be sort of a difficult task. The RCMP records some statistics about search and rescue. They provide incident command services during search and rescues, but there is no central body beyond that that records this data. So the cost that a community or individuals might spend on a search and rescue, that's not covered. You know, there might be individuals out there supporting efforts that don't let anyone know that they're supporting efforts, and so we can't necessarily record that information either. So because this involves so many different...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, and it's actually the regional partnership that really put the focus on Yellowknife. And so, you know, we're already working with them, taking their advice and insight. Of course, when you work at an NGO and you are doing this work on a daily basis day in and day out you have a lot of expertise and insight and, of course, we want to leverage that and work with these organizations. So not every organization's priorities will align with each other’s, and so going forward there will be some -- you know, partners who are probably happier with what we are doing and some...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All opportunities to expand our transitional housing stock will be explored, whether that is renovation of existing units that we come into possession of or whether it is the development of new units, we're open to doing whatever we need to do to make things happen. We're not going to limit ourselves to one, you know -- to one way of procuring these units. And so in -- recently, we've done some more temporary measures. So the on-the-land camp, we are looking to set up a temporary transitional housing unit until we can get something more permanent in place as well. And...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, I mean, I don't even need to be involved in that conversation. That's a community-level conversation, and the community can have that. Through the Department of Justice, we can relay the Member's comments and the desires for such a meeting, but I think those are the types of things that can really happen at the community level.

Deninu Kue First Nation does receive $50,000 annually to hire a community justice coordinator. I understand that that position is not filled. But that's the position that would help coordinate these types of conversations among leadership...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned earlier, our Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs had to step out so on his behalf, I would like to -- I announced that earlier for those Members who were in the House, that they probably remember that.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize Their Worships, Frank Pope and Peter Clarkson, and welcome them to the capital for the NWTAC AGM as well as to this House. So thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And as I stated earlier, a lot of that work has already started. Public Safety Canada has gone into the community. I've gone into the community, met with leadership, along with my deputy minister. The RCMP, as I mentioned, I have -- I've made one of their priorities to strengthen relationships with Indigenous governments. So ensuring that those touch points are actually happening, that those conversations are happening, is important.

And one of the most important things that the community can do is report things to the RCMP. And I understand that there's times when...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the 20th Legislative Assembly has made the safety of the residents and communities of the Northwest Territories one of its priorities. Many of us have witnessed and been affected by an increase in criminal activities, particularly the drug trade. Successful public safety efforts rely on trusting relationships between the RCMP and our residents.

In November 2024, Northwest Territories RCMP officers began wearing body worn cameras. By the end of March 2025, officers in 17 of 21 detachments will be equipped with this technology. The remaining four detachments...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so there's been conversations over the last number of years about the Mackenzie Delta LNG project concept. And, of course, IRC has been busy advancing its Inuvialuit energy security project in the meantime. The opportunity remains for IRC to pursue larger scale LNG project opportunities in the Beaufort Delta; for example, that could result in exportation to Asian Pacific markets where the LNG demand is growing as we know. That being said, this is all happening in the Inuvialuit settlement region so we are following their lead. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.