Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you know, I have two motions today. I will begin with one, of course, and do the other one once the second one -- first one's concluded.
Mr. Speaker,
WHEREAS the Northwest Territories continues to experience serious and evolving criminal activity, including violent offences and the growing presence of southern-based criminal gangs, posing a serious threat to the safety and well-being of residents;
AND WHEREAS the interconnected challenges of addictions, limited youth programming, and gaps within the justice system require a coordinated, whole-of-government response rather than isolated departmental efforts;
AND WHEREAS community leaders and residents across communities throughout the Northwest Territories have expressed an urgent need for strengthened local policing, better regulation of private security services, and accessible, in-territory recovery resources;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the Member for Range Lake, that this Legislative Assembly calls upon the Government of the Northwest Territories to develop a comprehensive, whole-of-government Crime Reduction Strategy;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories ensure the strategy implement proactive supports for northern youth, including enhanced after-school programming, mentorship opportunities, and culturally grounded, land-based healing initiatives to prevent crime and addictions;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories work with policing partners, including the RCMP, to increase community policing capacity in all Northwest Territories communities to strengthen relationships between residents and law enforcement;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories advocate to the federal government for improvements to bail provisions to enhance community safety, particularly in cases involving violent or repeat offenders;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories ensure the strategy expand in-territory addictions treatment options, including the establishment of at least one permanent residential addictions treatment facility and support for regional, culturally grounded healing programs;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories introduce legislation to license and regulate private security companies, including mandatory training, standards of conduct, and public safety focused oversight mechanisms to ensure the safety of both security personnel and the public;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories create a dedicated funding stream to support public safety and community policing initiatives at the municipal level to support municipal public safety initiatives, including community patrols, bylaw enforcement, crime prevention programming, and other identified priorities;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories ensure the overall Crime Reduction Strategy be fully costed, time-bound, and measurable, including clear milestones, publicly reported metrics, and annual reporting to ensure accountability to the residents of the Northwest Territories;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories respond to this motion in 120 days.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today because this motion is very important. It strikes at the very heart of how we govern. The issue really before us is how are we supporting and treating our people. And I'm going to -- and I think that we need to move forward and recognize the consequences of inaction because we find ourselves in a crossroads not just in the history of governance but also in the very story of our communities. It is a story that has been long defined by resilience, by the quiet strength of people who know what it means to look out for one another in the face of the vast and often unforgiving landscape. But today, if we are honest with ourselves, that story is being tested.
The North we love and the communities we raise our families or children in with the comfort of unlocked doors and the feeling of the kind of chill one doesn't come with winter but the chill now of the insecurity people are suffering from. This growing sense has changed the way our North is. This motion is merely a collection of whereases, but to be honest, they're a collection of we must dos, because people are demanding to feel like we're taking part and taking ownership of our challenges. We must be all collectively a part of the solution, but the government must lead. So this is a call to reclaim our neighbourhoods in some ways, our communities, our families, to strengthen them. It is to acknowledge the hard truths that southern gangs have been poisoning their peddled devices and preying on the vulnerabilities of our people. Even the chief superintendent of the RCMP, two days ago, pointed out that 40 percent of these types of criminals are southern-based. And if I remember correctly, I think he said 19 percent of them come back, you know, so they don't give up. They keep coming back North.
You know, there's an old adage take the customer away and the seller will go. Unfortunately, addictions doesn't work that easy. I'd be fooled to pretend it was that simple. So we have to recognize this problem. We are now in a 21st century, but we're dealing with this in the 20th century silos.
Mr. Speaker, we've seen the Department of Justice do its part. We know health and social services is trying to do their part, but the cracks between these silos are huge and people are falling through them.
When a young man in a small community loses his way, it isn't just a justice issue. It could be simply a housing issue of where it started. It may even be an education issue. It's an issue of whether a warm meal or a mentor to tell this person that they mattered. That could have been the issue.
This motion is calling for a whole-of-government response, not just passing the buck. No more, that's not my department. We need one strategy, one budget, one goal, Mr. Speaker. The safety of our people matter, and that's the message this motion sends and hopefully that's the motion that they'll build upon and that's the message we'll see action on.
Now, Mr. Speaker, let's talk about our youth. Every time a young person is recruited into a gang, it is a failure of our collective imagination, I'd say. We must out-recruit the recruiters. That is all our problem here. In other words, we're all part of that solution. We can pretend we're not, and we can point the fingers again and say, oh, it's someone else's problem. But everyone in this room is responsible in some way to help guide these folks right back into the normal path for our greater community. We must all offer a collective vision that the future is brighter than the false promises of the streets. That could mean, should mean, and I hope it means, things like better after-school programs that aren't just daycares but they're also arenas and mentorships. It means land-based healing and reconnecting our children, our young people, to the strengths of who they are, their culture, because that is the sense of pride we must continue to instill in people. Culture is something that could never be wasted. We must share it, and we all benefit from it. Even if it's not our culture, there's such lessons of embracing it that we will all gain greater strength within ourselves, including understanding. Because we know when children go astray and there are challenges, but we must not let them go.
We also need to be clear eyed about enforcement. Let us not be fooled. That is still a role. We need community policing where the officer isn't a stranger, but they are our neighbour. We must make them part of the community. And yes, even Ottawa has a role. Our government has a role to speak truth to power, have our government make sure that we articulate that the bail system must reflect the realities of small-town life.
In a community of 500, a no-contact order is a hollow promise. It just doesn't work. Even in Yellowknife, a no-contact order in a city of 20,000 people is challenging. Safety must be a priority. We cannot continue to put people at risk just to keep the paperwork moving along.
And for those struggling with the grips of addiction, the wait is over. We must do something. That's got to be the message. We cannot keep sending our people south to heal in a world they don't recognize, a world they may not want to be in, one they don't feel safe or familiar in. We need an in-territory treatment centre and facilities. We need a recovery aftercare program that happens to be either on the land, in their community, but around their family and part of the community in a meaningful way.
Now, let us be real. People will fail, and the lessons of stumbling and sometimes falling may be frustrating, but the lessons to be learned there is to be relentless and not give up. Even the witnesses, families, and friends to these challenges, we must not give up. So we have to recognize these lessons that they will be challenging, and we must be resilient in ourselves to help support them gain the strength so they can stand on their own.
And let us never forget, healing is not just a medical process. Healing is a journey. And you cannot do it alone. Even more reason, Mr. Speaker, why I say we need an in-territory process that digs deep and connects even deeper.
Finally, the strategy will not be a document that gathers dust. That's how I envision it, Mr. Speaker. I would like to see it costed, time-bound, and measured. Because the people of the Northwest Territories do not need rhetoric. They need results. They need to see them, but they also need to feel them. They need to know that their tax dollars are working as hard as they do. So as I work hard, you work hard, our community works hard, we know we're investing properly into a system that supports our people. We must continue to maintain that critical humanity. That's what we do here. We have to support people. Because I question why we're here if we're not. That is an important role.
These challenges we face are not easy, but we must do them because they're hard and someone must rise to the challenge. We must not be afraid to rise to that challenge. And at times it will feel impossible, Mr. Speaker. But I'm reminded of the words of those who came before us, those who built this territory out of hope and hard work. They didn't shrink from the challenges of their time, and I say let us not shrink to the challenges of ours. Let us choose hope over fear. Let us choose action over apathy. Let us pass this motion and begin the work of building a new North, a stronger North, a healthier North, a North that we can all feel proud that it's our home.
Mr. Speaker, at this time I'll be requesting a recorded vote so I don't forget. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Yellowknife Centre. To the motion. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I am pleased to stand in support of this motion as a seconder, and I want to commend the mover for crafting a very comprehensive motion for consideration that is detailed and kind of hits every point that I think we've heard from the community on what we need to do to address these public safety concerns. And I think, unfortunately, far too often this issue of crime and public safety becomes a binary choice. You're either for the cops or you're against the cops or, you know, you understand root causes or you only care about surface causes. And I think there's a poverty related to that because it's, of course, more complicated than that. And this motion addresses that. We can't be successful unless we address the shortfalls in housing, the shortfalls in addictions treatment, the shortfalls in mental health support, and support for intergenerational trauma and the toxic legacy of residential schools, the 60s scoop, and all the other injustices that have been committed against Indigenous people in the Northwest Territories.
But likewise, we can't be successful at combating southern-based drug gangs that represent 40 percent of all drug crimes that the RCMP charged and convicted last year. Those are the most recent stats. We can't be successful in that with social programs. A social program is not going to make -- the RCMP -- and for context, when I was a kid here I couldn't even conceptualize someone with a violent crime committed with a handgun or someone even having a handgun in the community. That was something that happened down south. And even the superintendent of the RCMP at our town hall two days ago, the Member for Yellowknife Centre and I, he talked about when he started as a police officer up here. He was surprised to see one handgun, if one emerged once a year, you know, you might find a handgun. Now the RCMP are confiscating between 30 to 40 handguns every year.
A social program isn't going to take guns off the street. We need police for that. But we cannot use the police to solve our social programs. It doesn't work that way. And the people who are saying that are the RCMP. And this Assembly has committed a lot of resources towards supporting the work of policing. We have three new, very important pieces of legislation that are going to make a difference. We have invested millions of dollars in new policing tools that are making a difference. That's why we see bricks of cocaine confiscated at the border in Hay River or in Inuvik or in Yellowknife, and they're seizing the handguns, they're getting the guns off the street. And we're keeping our officers safe while we're doing it with the new resources they need. And, you know, the superintendent also said that years ago he couldn't imagine that kind of support coming from the territorial government, and he was very relieved that this Assembly cares about the safety of officers and the safety of communities.
But where we are falling short is on the pernicious issue of addictions in our communities. And that is what we're hearing. Every time the Member for Yellowknife Centre and I have these town halls, that is the number one issue that comes up. It is the drug crime, the drug gangs, the addictions. And outside of Yellowknife, we hear it from our colleagues from smaller communities that it is the drugs that are killing people in their communities and it is the drugs that are bringing crime into the communities.
And, unfortunately, drug problems exist because there is a demand for those substances because people are hurting. And it's true, a recovery journey is not an easy thing to do. It requires comprehensive supports. But if we start to invest in a strategy that addresses that from the root causes all the way to the symptoms, then we can start to see progress. And right now, we're doing a bit more at the top to support those policing resources. But we still have to align our efforts with those underlying conditions.
You know, and the comments, people are so frustrated. You know, the answers of why we can't do things just aren't satisfying them. We heard they -- from the meeting, fortify -- and I've seen it online as well, we need to fortify our border against drugs. There's only one highway. Why can't we shut it down? The territory is going down because of drugs. Taxi drivers are selling crack. Crack is not medicine. Small community people are killing each other, burning houses down, we're killing one another. I lost my child from drugs. What am I going to do, bring my daughter back in a body bag?
Mr. Speaker, these are, in their own words, comments we hear when we have very emotional town halls where people speak their truth. And those comments, most of those comments come from Indigenous people who are seeing this, living this experience, either as former addicts or people who live close to these addictions and experience them on a direct and personal level. These are not, you know, suburban Yellowknifers who have -- who stay far away from downtown and have a lot of personal income, you know, all that kind of stuff. The perception perhaps that you get from southern Canada, of gated communities, hiring private security companies, and saying, you know, lock people up, send them away forever. That's not what's happening here.
You know, our RCMP G-Division, it represents a fourth, a quarter of total community engagement in Canada. So of all the policing engagement with communities in our country, the NWT does a fourth, a quarter of that work. That's pretty commendable for the police services to be reaching out to the communities they serve and having those dialogues. And, again, we heard the commander say to a group of our community, we are not the solution to these problems. We are here when the solutions are -- when we need to be, when they reach that crisis point.
So if, again, we are to be successful, we've supported these tools, we're seeing the police are making progress on fighting violent drug gangs from the south, but if we're going to address those addictions then we need solutions for those addictions. We need to talk to young people and make sure they have a meaningful future that they can see themselves in, you know. And the future is scary for a lot of people. The world is changing at a phenomenal rate. And as economic opportunities dry up, despair leads people to find ways to dull that pain and that despair, and that can lead to a cycle of criminal behaviour of violence, and ultimately can destroy families, destroy communities, and destroy lives. We want that to stop.
So I think the Member has brought -- the Member for Yellowknife Centre has crafted something that is important, it is effective, and strikes at all aspects of this continuum. And I hope we can start to have this discussion as more than just that southern perspective of are you for the police, are you for the criminals, you know, are you anti-police, do you not believe in institutional racism. Those dialogues, while you'd would be foolish not to recognize those, it's just a different reality here. And I always point this out when I speak to people who are very critical of any kind of support for the police, for more policing resources, that the push for this isn't coming from Yellowknife; the push for this is coming from the representatives of our smallest communities, Indigenous voices who are calling for more resources in their community, who are calling for RCMP police resources that have never been there because they're needed. And that speaks to the problem that those -- again, the supports we need to give to the foundational issues just aren't working. They need to be doubled. We need to build more houses, we need to have actual treatment programs here in the North. It's easy to go down and get, you know, treatment, but when you come back it's a lot harder to stay out of the same kind of patterns of behaviour that got you into the problem in the first place. This motion addresses that.
I know these motions often -- these are non-binding motions, but it speaks for what we could achieve if we actually treated this seriously and built a costed plan to address this. And at this point in this government, this isn't going to be a plan for this Assembly, but it could be a plan for the future of the Northwest Territories. It could be a plan that's staged over a decade, you know, to align with all of the work that's going to come, the billions of dollars of investment from the federal government that are also going to bring problems with them if we're not careful. We see that in major developments like Fort McMurray, the oil sands, how many drugs and -- illegal drugs came into those environments because people have easy money and great opportunities, and it's easy to get distracted. So we need to make sure that our communities don't become victims of our success and give them the support they need to be successful with this economic -- incredible economic opportunity that's coming.
So I hope we take this opportunity to build something better, to build something that is holistic across the board, that addresses everything from the need to curb violence at the top to the need to treat addictions and homelessness at the bottom. And by building a plan that addresses the full continuum, we'll start to find ways to actually curb these problems and see real improvements. Because no matter what the statistics say -- and the police have their own statistics, the government has their own statistics, but how people feel is just as important, and people don't feel like their community is the same community they grew up in. And if we're going to change that feeling, we need to do more and give confidence that our leadership is moving the territory to a safer, healthier place.
So I encourage all of my colleagues to support this motion so we can start taking action on the most serious impact, the most serious problems that we're facing, which is, again, this crisis of addictions, this crisis of organized crime, and the damage it does in our communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. To the motion. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am against crime. It's a bold position to take, I know. I have, indeed, supported the additional investments that this Assembly has made into the RCMP through the creation of a new territorial crime reduction unit. The problem is that I don't believe it's helping to continue talking in broad, sweeping terms about crime in general without defining the problems we're trying to tackle, with only vague ideas about who the bad guys are or appear to be and how to get them out of here. I think if we're actually going to improve anything we have to think carefully about the priority problems we're trying to solve. So in this Assembly, we've certainly talked a lot about crime and public safety, but we have dug very little into actual analysis or tried to find evidence, including statistics, as to, for example, what are the rates of particular types of crime, what are the patterns in particular communities, who exactly is participating in these criminal networks, how is it organized, who makes the most money off of this crime, how does the economy of it work, meaning who's making money, how is the money flowing, who are the most vulnerable participants in the crime, who are the most common victims.
I don't have answers to any of those questions right now. This motion I see as a mishmash of different assumptions. Sometimes contradictory. It begins talking about the need to focus on violent crime and southern gangs. This implies a theory that the criminals in this territory are mostly foreigners from down south, gangsters, bringing their guns, I assume. I assume there's a desire to focus on illegal drugs, and certainly we've heard from the mover and seconder that that is intended to be the focus, but oddly it's not even mentioned in the motion. Although there is mention of addictions treatment. But the stat was cited that 40 percent of those being charged with drug trafficking are from down south, but I would flip that around and say but 60 percent of those being charged are NWT residents. So I am not sure how we could create an entire strategy around an assumption that most drug traffickers are from the outside, are from down south.
The motion talks about bail reform, implying that one main solution is to keep offenders locked up. But we haven't really come to terms with what we should do when it's our own people, when it's long-time members of our communities that are committing drug crimes that are participating in the trafficking in some way. What do we do when it's family members? You.
Can send individuals to residential addictions treatment. We know that that is not a panacea, as healing can be a lifelong process. But I think it's worth pointing out that not all traffickers are even addicted to the substances that they're dealing. It's primarily an economic activity. It's a livelihood for some, including some people in our communities. So how do we address that? How do we deal with that? How do you heal a community that is torn apart by these kinds of economic activities?
The motion also puts a fair amount of focus on youth and how we should be trying to keep them busy with more programming. Now, certainly we need to support our youth and help them find meaningful productive lives, but the motion is implying that youth are the troublemakers when we know, according to the RCMP, that 89 percent of drug offenders in the territory are adults.
I am also not sure that it helps to frame the problem of youth through the lens of seeing them as troublemakers, that we're doing these after-school programs and mentorship programs and on-the-land programs because we believe that they're troublemakers or criminals in the making. I don't think that's actually a helpful starting point to truly support our youth.
The motion also focuses on increasing supports around private security and municipal bylaw enforcement. Now, I do certainly support the need to regulate the private security industry, but I am not clear what that has to do with stopping violent crime or gangs. Dealing with drug trafficking kingpins is different from dealing with loitering, trespassing, people, homeless or not, who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol in public that are acting aggressively or who are destroying and defacing the hallways of housing units. Different strategies and approaches need to be taken than when we're talking about how to reduce violent crime and, for example, drug trafficking.
I also want to point out that when we talk about crime and public safety in these big, sweeping terms, we tend to make certain types of crime invisible. Nowhere in this motion does it mention the extremely high rates of family violence in this territory, including intimate partner violence. Nowhere does it mention sexual assault or sex trafficking. Nowhere does it mention fraud or financial crimes. It also doesn't mention organized crime or organized crime networks. This motion is a sprinkling of different actions, many of which I do agree with on their own, but I don't think that mashing them all together haphazardly into one crime reduction strategy is actually going to make any meaningful difference to reduce crime, violent or otherwise.
So for those reasons, I will not be supporting this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. To the motion. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I truly appreciated all of the commentary that came from the mover and seconder's town hall; specifically, the comments that NWT RCMP Chief Superintendent Dyson Smith shared with those present, including Cabin Radio. And I want to take most of my time speaking to this motion to share some of the chief superintendent's comments from an article that was published earlier today because I believe they are important.
Smith said that the RCMP often interacts with people who didn't get the help they needed somewhere along the way, like mental health or addiction supports. If there was an investment into a lot of these other programs, I would be the first one to say take away some of the policing positions, said Smith. He said what police operations are successful at doing, even if they don't result in charges, is disrupting activities and discouraging further drug trafficking. Smith said RCMP officers join municipal enforcement officers in the GNWT when they visit encampments. He said that the RCMP is sharing data with its partners on the number of calls for service that it receives related to encampments and to help determine when an RCMP response is actually needed. Quote, it's not a crime to be homeless, and it's not a crime to have addictions. It's not a crime to be mentally ill, end quote, said Smith.
Smith also explained RCMP priorities in the NWT, which are set by the GNWT, and offered some statistics from policing efforts in Yellowknife. Quote, it shouldn't be a secret what we do, and it shouldn't be a surprise what we do, he said.
Smith said the NWT RCMP has four priorities to direct their policing efforts:
Targeted enforcement to reduce illegal drugs and alcohol;
To build strong relationships with Indigenous communities and residents;
To provide policing services that reflect recognition and efforts to reduce harm to Indigenous women and girls; and,
To increase community knowledge and understanding of police roles and responsibilities.
Smith said that the RCMP are halfway through the three-year term for this set of priorities.
The RCMP have increased policing related to drug trafficking in the last few years, said Smith, including the creation of a territorial crime reduction unit, which has been very active across the NWT. Smith said there is a perception in the territory that youth are being recruited to traffic drugs, which he said is actually not the case. He said 89 percent of drug offenders in the territory are adults and only 11 percent are youths. Smith said that the increased policing of illegal drugs has already seen success, like what the RCMP said was the largest seizure of cocaine in the territory in October.
The increase in drug policing is in part thanks to investments from the GNWT, Smith said. He said the RCMP will again receive $200,000 in territorial funding for recruitment. The salaries of members on the territorial crime reduction unit are also paid by the GNWT, he said. Generally, the NWT government is responsible for 70 percent of the costs of RCMP operations in the territory while the federal government covers the remaining 30 percent. The GNWT's latest budget earmarked $66.77 million in spending for policing in 2026-2027. The RCMP have recently started tracking officers' effort at community engagement, and Smith said the NWT makes up for 26 percent of RCMP engagement nationwide.
Speaking to policing in the Yellowknife specifically, Smith said the number of calls for service has not changed much from 2024-2025 to 2026, but alcohol and drug complaints in the downtown core went down 10 percent in that same period from 4,126 to 3,614. Smith said police are now doing 60 patrols in Yellowknife's downtown core a day or about four every hour. While there has been a slight increase in the number of criminal charges, Smith said that that doesn't necessarily mean crime has gone up.
In 2024-2025, police laid 299 criminal charges in Yellowknife; and, in 2025-2026, the police laid 352 charges. He attributes the increase to better luck with investigations.
Mr. Speaker, like my colleague from Yellowknife North, I find this motion disjointed and confusing. The commentary provided by the mover and seconder are also a bit all over the map. Much of what they said, I don't really necessarily disagree with and especially as it comes down to addictions treatment gaps. But that was only one clause within the motion. When I hear from my constituents who provide commentary on the narrative of what is going on and what the discussion is coming out of these town halls, it's often confusion and frustration.
I also want to thank the Member for Yellowknife North for pointing out a few points that I agree with. For instance, no standing committee has conducted thoughtful oversight into the positives and negatives of our current approach, the GNWT's current approach, or analyzed evidence beyond anecdotes. The people of the NWT do deserve meaningful action and not rhetoric. The tactic of doing something just for the sake of doing something without measured evidence-based actions that are demonstrably identified as a need by the RCMP, which has a continual conversation between both themselves and the Minister of Justice, is not something that I think I can support. If the motion spoke to building on and improving these priorities, I would be in support. I don't think starting from zero and expect the government to start from scratch without a firm evidence-based recommendation is a smart move.
As this is not the case, the motion is not something I can support. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. To the motion. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I realize and, you know, Members have spoken at length on this motion, particularly the mover and the seconder. The motion is not the be all and end all, of course. You know, it has clauses that I think are certainly appropriate. I think that the motion has been thought out. Certainly, you know, the motion came from, you know, the two public meetings that this Member from Yellowknife Centre has had, along with the Member from Range Lake. Obviously, it's coming from a place of passion, it's coming from, you know, information they've heard. We all know what's happening in the territory around the drug trade and around crime.
The motion, Mr. Speaker, is non-binding, you know, and I appreciate that it may not end up being anything more than another opportunity for Members to -- you know, to speak on the floor in this House about this very, very important issue. I certainly support any action that aims to reduce crime in our territory, aims to reduce the drug trade in our territory; therefore, I will be supporting this motion. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. To the motion. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we already know that the territory is facing a huge drug addictions problem. It doesn't matter which community you're from. And I've heard stories in the communities that I represent. I've seen things. So I am totally convinced that we have a huge problem, and it's a crisis. So anything that is going to reflect towards minimizing and addressing that problem, I am in total support. I would rather advocate and save one life. And if I did, I am certainly moving in the right direction, whether it's traditional on-land healing. I've never seen executions in my home birth community. I see it. There's prostitution. I've never seen that before. Handguns. It's just beyond a crisis, and we need every ounce of reflection and support from this government to address that. And other evidence, Mr. Speaker. You go catch an airplane, you're encountering canine services. Again, I've never seen that. And I would rather make every ounce of effort to address that problem because I cannot tolerate losing another life or attending another funeral because of the crisis. If I can make a difference, I am all for it. So keeping it short, we've got a problem and we need all hands on deck, and I will be supporting this motion. Mahsi.
Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. To the motion. Member from Monfwi.
Mr. Speaker, thank you. The establishment of a comprehensive territorial crime reduction strategy, I think it's a good strategy. Yes, there's a lot of issues. There's a lot of stuff that's mentioned in here that the Indigenous government are working on, are trying to deal with drug trades involving criminal activities in small communities. Even a lot of our -- we never really had issues before until the drugs came to small communities. And when you look at it, in our justice system it is overpopulated with by -- you know, it's overpopulated with young Indigenous men in there. And we have most children in care, the Indigenous children are in care. This is really alarming for us. And I know that even just recently we met with the Department of Justice with our local leaders addressing a lot of these issues.
So you know, before then it was not an issue, like I said. And the most vulnerable one that I see with criminal activities and drug trades are communities with no policing. I have two communities, you know. There's a lot of issues there. They don't have an RCMP detachment there, and this is what the community really want to fight against these criminal activities involving drug trades. And there's a lot of that in the small communities. So with this in mind, you know, like, I do appreciate my colleague bringing this forward, and it's really greatly needed in small communities. We've seen where a house that cannot sit vacant for a long time. There's always a lot of break and enter that's happening in small communities. And a lot of children are in care, like I said. And there's a lot of prostituting. And all these things, we cannot dismiss, you know. It's a serious issue, serious concerns for our community members. And some of these are young girls, young boys, and this is going to have an impact in the long term. You know, it's going to have a traumatic effect on their lives going into their adulthood. We need to stop it. We need to deal with it. We need to do something about it.
With that in mind, I will support this motion. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. To the motion. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Anything to do with fighting crime or making -- fighting against the drug trade, saving lives of our smaller communities and our regional centres and our capital, I would be -- I am in favour of making healthier communities, and I think this addresses some of these, or not most of all the -- the hurt that we're going through within our communities. I've addressed this in my Member's statement with how it's affecting our whole community. One person comes into our community and starts to sell drugs to our community members, get our younger population involved as runners, and it hurts everybody. Money doesn't stay in our community. I don't know where the money comes from, but there's all sorts of crime being committed, break and enters and theft. So anything that deals with fighting crime or fighting against the drug trade, then I am in favour of it and I will be supporting this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the motion. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Lots has been said about this motion. I am going to keep my comments brief.
Mr. Speaker, I think residents would appreciate and benefit from the government summarizing and assessing their crime reduction actions. It's certainly something that I do hear about from residents. Insofar as I am interested in seeing that, I will support the motion, though I do share some of the reservations shared by my colleagues.
Mr. Speaker, I think the idea to have standing committee, particularly the Standing Committee on Social Development, contribute to that analysis is a great idea, and I would definitely support that. I think if we're concerned about crime in the territory, digging into the analysis of what's going on, understanding the issues better is certainly the best way to get us towards effective solutions to the problems. I would encourage the government to continue engaging with the RCMP and committee to do the same, investigate root causes, increase resources where needed to address those root causes, because that is the ultimate solution to any crime is just figuring out where it's coming from, what's causing it. I've spoken to that in the media before. I've spoken to it on the floor. Reducing poverty, increasing education rates and literacy rates, these are the things that help people come on the path to a productive life.
Mr. Speaker, if the government determines a territorial strategy would be beneficial, I would just want it to ensure that it is evidence-based and based on the assessments that were previously recommended. So I will leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. To the motion. Member from the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My region has -- you know, I've got reports indicating that I had a high crime rate and violent crime rate in the Deh Cho region, so the establishment of a comprehensive territorial crime reduction strategy is something that they're going to look at, they're going to examine things. So, you know, to prevent -- I always talk about prevention, prevention, prevention, in a lot of things that I bring up, health prevention, crime prevention stuff, initiatives and stuff, so I think -- and listening to all my colleagues talk about how they're going to -- how this pertains to their areas, we need something comprehensive. We need something that's going to move things along. And in my riding, we're dealing with a lot of drugs, people getting caught with drugs, either in the community or on the highway, and so there's -- we're really affected by drugs in our community and violent crime and crime in my communities. So for that reason, I too will be supporting this motion. It's non-binding so we'll see what happens to it. So thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. To the motion. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I failed to mention, on May 1st the community of Behchoko went through a lockdown involving drug trades and that drug trades had gone wrong involving guns. It was posted on social media. And the school, the children did not go home until 9 that evening. And some of the children, I'm sure -- you know, like it was on the media too where some of the children -- there's a young boy that I know and said, is my mommy okay, and that's not right. It's -- okay. Okay. So there is -- so I was just saying that, you know, one of the young boy who at an early age was exposed to some form of violence said to the grandpa, is my mommy okay. So these -- so I'm really glad, grateful, that -- to my two colleagues for bringing this forward. Thank you.
To the motion. Member from Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as this motion directs Cabinet, we will be abstaining from the vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Thebacha. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. Does the mover wish to conclude or close debate.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, brief as I can. But, I mean, I'm not going to come too hard on this. First off, I want to thank the colleagues -- I'll start with the MLA for Range Lake -- for supporting the motion to get it on the floor. And certainly my community colleagues for their support on the initiative, and of course, Yellowknife colleague.
I think it's important to say that this motion wasn't drafted in isolation. I didn't go into a dark room by myself with a pen and crayons to come up with something. I actually used some of the advice I got from the RCMP. I also used some advice that we got from our technical expertise in this building. I won't go too far into that detail, but -- so it was those types of people that provided me the inspiration and wording and how to point stuff out.
I do want to highlight a couple of areas because the crime and -- sorry, the criminal and -- sorry, let me try it again.
The crime severity index has gone up 128 percent over 2021 to 2024. In just a few years, it spiked up 128 percent, Mr. Speaker. The stats are well -- well publicized. I'm not going to waste the time of the House by going through them one by one, but I'd say that if folks think that this motion is out of touch or it's a bad motion, I think the fact is that isn't the idea of getting these ideas on the floor and try to develop them and create them and create some action. If there was one message in this whole thing that I want to be clear is it's about bringing people together. So many of our resources are by themselves, separated.
And for those who are concerned about, well, the youth issue, I'm not blaming the youth. I'm saying they matter so much, I made sure there was an extra line to stress how much they matter. Not just to me, not just to some of my colleagues. I think most of my colleagues see, we -- you know, so that was part of the emphasis of that and why it came that way.
For those who have said that they're going to vote against it, I respect the fact that, you know, it's clear you put a lot of time and energy to pick it apart. Okay, if that's what you're here to offer -- I am. Thank you. I'm saying it's okay. I'm saying it's okay. But these aren't vague ideas. These are very important details. They're not assumptions.
Mr. Speaker, this motion calls for measurable outcomes, actions, et cetera. And I think it has to start with the government, that all the partners, all the pieces need to come together. And only the government can do that. And once they produce a plan, a draft plan hopefully, they will bring it to the Assembly, to the Members, to the committee.
Mr. Speaker, you know, it's so important to remind folks that that 60 -- the 40/60 ratio was an observation made by the RCMP, and I appreciate that. But where do you think the 60 percent's getting the drugs from? The 40 percent that are bringing it here.
You know, Cabin Radio, I'm sorry, respectfully, ain't the end all and be all of facts. I can tell you that. So if people are using their position just from a radio or a news thing -- I mean, it's important. They are facts but they're not the only facts.
I can tell you the Member for Range Lake and I have spent hours talking to people well in advance of this meeting. Our staff, who work with us together, have talked to people. I know talking to my colleagues, they talk to people. And then we stay after these sessions to talk to people about the impacts of these issues on their lives. So this wasn't just we ran in there for 15 seconds for a photoshop picture in the middle of it and then get out of there and say, oh, crime matters, we're fighting this. No, we spent hours to this.
So, Mr. Speaker, I wouldn't want people to get any impression that someone who may not like the motion doesn't think we didn't spend time thinking about it. We spent a lot of time getting to where we are today. And I agree, we could spend more time. If we were to do a comprehensive motion for all the -- what we'll call it -- warts and all situation, we would have spent days and weeks and months writing a motion. And guess what? That is the truth of doing nothing. It's better to get something on the table and work with it than to sit here and do nothing. I think maybe that was what even the chief superintendent said. It would be better to be -- you know, swing and a miss than not to swing at all when he said trying to fight crime and sometimes it doesn't work out. Well, that's the same with a motion. It's better to get something on the table and do something. Even if it doesn't work out, we need to push and push on this file.
Mr. Speaker, I want to sum up by saying that the constituents in my community, MLA -- or the Mackenzie Delta community, the Tlicho community, the Inuvik community, you know, the Sahtu communities, the Deh Cho communities, you know, Yellowknife community, I mean, I go all around and I don't hear anybody say things are better.
I will say -- and I wasn't there to challenge him because I did not want to challenge chief superintendent -- oh, well, it's a title, not name. I didn't want to challenge his role. He's right, things may not appear, you know, that -- to worse, but the problem is they're stabilized at the highest crime rates. So when I've researched the stats, the Northwest Territories is very bad when it comes to criminal stats. So what he's getting at is things might be bad. Well, when I call bad normal or view it as normal, well yeah, I guess maybe that's a perspective he has too, that we've got the worst stats in Canada on crime. Oh, well, things are stable at the worst levels.
So you have to look at it; in other words, you have to look at how do you look at stats, how do you perceive them, what message you send on that.
So ultimately, Mr. Speaker, finishing with this, all it's asking for is finding ways to come together, come up with a strategy, work together, have it measured, have it cost, and make sure we report it. And I think if someone wants to find fault in that, well, okay. But I'd rather be blamed for doing something and standing for something than not. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
