Mr. Chairman, in the last few years there have been trips made by Ministers and MLAs to places such as the Navajo reservation in the United States to personally check out the justice system which has been developed there. At the present time, we are checking out possibilities, if there is sufficient interest, for Members to go and see for themselves how one aboriginal first nation of the United States has taken over the administration of justice, or at least has moved into it in a substantive way. We are working on this at the moment. Most people who have gone to visit have benefited from the trip and the experience. We are at the point where it is no longer something which we are talking about. It is happening. Justices of the peace have support systems extended to them so that they can take on increasing responsibility. There are workshops and training provided to them so that they can get increasingly involved in heavier work loads and heavier responsibilities in the area of sentencing. Communities who demonstrate some interest by individuals, groups or leaders to get involved in sentencing of young offenders and even adult offenders are increasingly encouraged by the different agencies, the courts, the judges often do that now, the RCMP, the federal prosecutors and ourselves in the Department of Justice. We are supporting regional conferences and workshops where people get together to share their ideas and their views on the various developments in the justice system. For instance, in Inuvik, sometime in March, there will be a conference -- I am not sure if there are specific dates set yet -- but hopefully, the session will not prohibit all of us from attending this conference, which I think will be very important. I think it will draw together interested individuals and groups from the Beaufort, Delta and Sahtu communities to share and exchange ideas and experiences and to have information and suggestions

presented to them over the course of two or three days so that this work can continue. Those are the types of things which are happening right now and are being encouraged by the department.