Hon. Marty Klyne: Minister, the tragic events at James Smith Cree Nation in Saskatchewan have highlighted the problem of police response times in Indigenous communities. With a distance of 45 kilometres between the RCMP detachment and the subject crime scene, we should not expect an acceptable or timely response for any emergency.

Your mandate letter includes co-developing a legislative framework for Indigenous policing, and Budget 2021 provided funding for this response. Such localized policing services, with officers in place for the long term, would significantly and satisfactorily improve response times, not to mention the benefit of local police officers with knowledge and understanding of a community and its needs.

Can you please update us on this work and share an approximate timeline for introducing a government bill?

Hon. Kim Pate: Welcome, minister. Minister, I’m picking up on questions from some of my colleagues. The tragedies that unfolded at the James Smith Cree Nation have led to a number of Indigenous leaders, including the chief and others, to call for resources to be put in place in the community. You mentioned some of that. In particular, there is a call for greater autonomy, sovereignty and self-determination. That’s obviously key to ensuring that communities have the supports they need to address long-standing and systemic issues that continue to unfold and help create some of the travesties.

They also raised the fact that many in their communities have experienced not just the marginalization and victimization, but also the criminalization and incarceration that other colleagues have spoken about.

In light of this information, what specific actions are you and your government looking at taking to address these issues to ensure that the needs and demands of the survivors are met?