Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Master Development Plan that we are referring to here, deals largely with capital requirements. As the report suggests, the present system that we have is overloaded. We are over capacity and we have been for about five years now. The standard of the facilities that we have are largely considered substandard. In short, we need a substantial injection of capital just to bring our present facilities up to standard. A standard, at least, from the eyes of the federal government under the different agreements that we have. They largely view the present facilities we have as not quite adequate. There is quite a negative view of the situation as we have it, in light of the exchange agreement that we have with them. The program area only, for instance, is considered to be under-funded and under-resourced. The staffing ratio we have with inmates is considered to be inadequate as well. When we look at the population growth and the crime rate that we have now, the capital requirements then jump even more. It is a double barrel shotgun that looks like it is going to go off any time. I think in many ways, this master plan comes along at a good time because all of us are uncertain, in all the areas of responsibility we have, we should take a comprehensive approach to it in terms of planning and developing strategic plans to make sure we have the proper resources and the type of facilities that will meet the increasing demand by communities to play a greater role in the justice system.
When you look at the political landscape that everyone in this Legislature has indicated, as well as the communities themselves, the present justice system and the present system of corrections we have is not the kind of system that our people require and want. So model B, in fact, seems to be the option that has been chosen by the sentiments that I have picked up from this Legislature, from our government and from the communities across the territories. With that comes, of course, the commitment we have to make that in order to move into option B we have to have a strategy on how we are going to accommodate the wish to move into a more community and regionally oriented type of approach to corrections. That means that we have to give some support to communities, some resources to develop some ideas and some suggestions on how they want to become a significant partner in the corrections field.
It is the kind of approach we have been advocating in the community transfer initiative. We cannot really give you the kind of definitive options that we might want. However, as far as facilities are concerned, for instance, what type of facilities are we envisaging to implement option B? We do not know that communities want to look at providing facilities, training and programs for young offenders, out on the land programs, small community-based facilities and regional facilities. Those are just starting to be articulated by a number of communities. We are trying to put together a strategic plan on how to respond with the type of approach we want to take. We are developing a more comprehensive document. I do not know how long it will take to deal with all the recommendations. Some of the family law review recommendations we can act on quite quickly, we have started already, such as looking at a good information system, the type of training that might be required to implement some of the recommendations that are made. Some of the recommendations, I am advised, up to ten years to fully realize, so some of them we can do, some of them have to wait until we develop a more comprehensive approach to them.