Mr. Speaker, the project on the Victim Impact Statements, was decided some time ago, in 1991. There were some communities that were selected, as the Member indicated, to do a pilot project, since it was agreed by the officials involved in Social Services, the R.C.M.P., and the Department of Justice, that it would be a rather complex undertaking.
We have indicated to the House, that there are some difficulties being perceived at this time. For instance, in the initial stages of the project, over 90 statements were filled out to our knowledge, but, in fact, only a small percentage of those were actually received by the legal system. I think that only two have been actually used in the courts itself, as to the reasons for it, we are not able to provide this at this time, at least, I have not received anything, except that the people involved between the R.C.M.P., our department, and Social Services, are investigation that.
Until there is some preliminary conclusions drawn from the initial pilot project communities, and the way that it was set up, I do not see how it would be of any immediate use to try, while we are trying to correct some initial problems, to set up another, supposedly pilot project, in the city of Yellowknife. Thank you.
