Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the Standing Committee on Finance, I would like to report that the Department of Justice provide the committee with a briefing on the changes being recommended to the approach taken to corrections programs in the Northwest Territories. Members support, in principle, the approach outlined by the department. The basic elements of the approach are as follows.

-Devote resources to communities for the establishment of community justice committees and the development of alternatives to incarceration.

-Devote resources to community-based residential centres across the Northwest Territories.

-Build additional institutional facilities in Nunavut and the MacKenzie Delta to better reflect existing and projected inmate populations.

-Continue discussions with Ottawa to repatriate federal inmates, from the Northwest Territories, now serving long sentences in southern institutions.

On the basis of the recommended approach, the Minister and his staff expect the capital costs for community-based residential centres to approach $5.1 million by the year 2006. Construction or renovations are expected to be close to $43 million.

The committee suggested, during the review of the 1993-94 capital estimates, that the department include funding for culturally relevant corrections programs such as wilderness camps and land skills survival programs in the 1994-95 capital estimates. This has not happened. The committee recommended that future budgets address this exclusion.

Given the magnitude of estimated capital costs and the exclusion of important programs from the capital forecast, the committee is very concerned that the department is presenting a five year capital plan that totals only $2.8 million. This amount represents more than $21 million less than what was put forward last year.

The committee appreciates that the department's plans require adjustment and that the recommended approach must be approved. However, committee Members do not understand why the department did not come forward with their best estimates for capital spending over the next five years.

A realistic estimate on the capital expenditures required for corrections programs are not included in the 1994-95 capital estimates. Committee Members wonder, then, where additional funds will come from, in future years, to support correctional programs. Will other departments be required to scale back their plans in order to accommodate the absence of these required programs in the capital plan?