Alberta’s Justice Minister meets with Local Community Leaders and Elected Officials

Alberta’s Justice Minister meets with Local Community Leaders and Elected Officials

Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser

Alberta’s Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Kaycee Madu met with business leaders and elected officials to discuss policing on August 26 in Vegreville.

Minister Madu’s Press Secretary Alex Puddifant told the Vegreville News Advertiser the minister was in town for a stakeholder round table meeting. Puddifant reported that there were approximately 30 people in attendance.

He added that Minister Madu was in town at the invitation of MLA Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk and fielded questions, and heard comments and stories from those in attendance.

The primary focus of the meeting was to discuss the transition study the Province had commissioned. “It was a really important opportunity for the minister to hear their perspective,” stated Puddifant.

In fact, Minister Madu has been meeting with municipal councils, Indigenous leaders and other stakeholders throughout the province since early July. On July 20, the first in a series of town hall meetings scheduled across Alberta began as a means of providing the public with an opportunity to voice their concerns about crime in their communities.

At that time, Minister Madu stated that, “The town hall sessions will also be an opportunity to discuss ongoing work to modernize the Police Act, as well as updating Albertans on the progress of the government’s study on the feasibility of establishing a provincial police service to replace the RCMP in Alberta.

Town halls were slated in the communities of: Millarville, Claresholm, Cardston, Redcliff, Drumheller, High Level, and Grande Prairie. Puddifant said other town halls will be held before and after the transition study is released. He said the study is expected to be made public in October.

MLA Jacquie Armstrong-Homeniuk stated, “I had the pleasure of being involved in two round table discussions, Bruderheim in the morning and Vegreville in the afternoon with my friend and colleague the Minister of Justice and Solicitor General, Kaycee Madu along with Mayors Toni Nygren (Chipman), Bill Skinner (Lamont), Karl Hauch (Bruderheim), Deborah McMann (Innisfree), and Tim MacPhee (Vegreville). Councillors from throughout the constituency as well as several community support staff and stakeholders.

We had very informative conversations about concerns within our communities such as repeat offenders, ongoing vandalism to public and private property, gaps between policing and justice as well as discussions on upcoming legislations.”

Vegreville Mayor Tim MacPhee said the minister was in town for about an hour yesterday talking to elected officials and other members of our community.

“We talked about some measures better electronic bracelets for repeat offenders that would be able to track where they have been hopefully will see some legislation this fall that may help there.

We talked a lot about the new provincial police service that the province is looking to set up a report done by Price Waterhouse has been completed and the cabinet is just going through it now hopefully by the end of September they will be releasing that report and we will have a better understanding of what the costing would look like compared to the RCMP model that we use today.

We spent some time talking about police resources being tied up with mental health issues. He assured us that they are trying their best to come up with a solution.”