Securing a Sustainable Future

Protecting People

Mr. Speaker, too many people in our society are victimized by violence and crime. We have made great progress in recent years in training and hiring more police officers and providing additional resources. This year, we are prepared to do more. We are investing $1.6 million to strengthen the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and the RCMP in Newfoundland and Labrador, putting more police officers in our communities and on the streets where they are needed. We are providing $700,000 to create and support seven new Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officers and one civilian position. We are also providing $100,000 to establish an additional RNC canine unit in St. John’s to enhance drug enforcement. These new investments will allow the government to follow through on our Blue Book commitment to enhance the anti-drug campaigns for schools and neighborhoods in consultation with police, schools and parents. Also in keeping with our Blue Book commitments, these investments will see a new police unit dedicated to combating sexual exploitation of children and internet crimes. We are determined to work with police to protect children and others from e-crimes such as cyber-bullying. We are also investing nearly $800,000 to add several new RCMP positions – six regular member positions in Labrador, one public service employee position in Labrador and one regular member position in Gander.

This year, we are providing Memorial University with $300,000 to design and implement an emergency mass communication system that would be used in the event of a crisis situation at the St. John’s or Grenfell campuses similar to those at other universities in Canada and elsewhere.

We are establishing a Child, Youth and Family Services project office in the western region to improve the quality and effectiveness of Legal Aid services for children and parents in child protection cases.

In keeping with the recommendations of the Aboriginal Law Project Report and the advice of the Legal Aid Commission, we will improve access to justice throughout the province, particularly in Labrador where the need is significant. In addition to a lawyer and one administrative support position in Wabush and a social worker for Happy Valley-Goose Bay, we will hire a lawyer and an intake officer for St. John’s while also addressing other operational needs.

To address violence at its source, we are increasing funding by $410,000 for the provincial Violence Prevention Initiative. These additional funds will enable us to increase awareness of violence and its consequences, to support the work of regional violence prevention coordinating committees and, in particular this year, to develop training in partnership with the Healthy Aging Strategy to draw attention to, prevent and intervene in the abuse and neglect of older adults.

By adjusting priorities for the use of existing resources, we are also moving ahead this year to keep a number of other Blueprint commitments geared towards protecting citizens.

We are increasing funding for Crime Stoppers, which offers rewards for information leading to arrests and convictions in cases of unsolved crimes.

We are providing the resources and leadership to enhance and expand the Safe and Caring Schools Policy in schools throughout Newfoundland and Labrador and encourage students to cultivate a harmonious code of conduct to govern their behaviour at school.

We are also working with schools and other appropriate stakeholders to develop a zero-tolerance policy for bullying. The RNC just recently launched the STRIVE program, where STRIVE stands for “Students Taking Responsibility Initiative in Violence Education”. The program is delivered by schools to address bullying and other forms of violence in cooperation with students.