Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, would like to say a few things on the Department of Justice. Overall, the department has done quite a good job. I will take this opportunity to mention a few things that I see that need improvement.

First of all, I have some concerns with the legal aid division. Some of my constituents who use that service quite often told me that there are some lawyers hired through the system who -- and I don't know how much money they get paid to do this work -- don't spend very much time with their clients. In a number of cases, they just spend a few minutes before their court time. In a lot of cases, they have been instructed by their lawyers to plead guilty and throw themselves at the mercy of the courts. To me, that is not justice. The department should look at this because it has been mentioned to me quite a number of times. The people who use the legal aid system now feel that is the way justice is served, and I don't believe that is the way justice should be served. I think that lawyers should spend more time with their clients and not tell them to plead guilty for expediency's sake, as it seems to be done. If the department could look into this matter, it would be very appreciated. I don't think I'm the only MLA who has this concern. I've talked to a number of other Members of this House who know this is going on. The sooner this is taken care of, the better.

Another area I have comments on is policing. First of all, speaking specifically for my constituency, the highway is going to be officially opened for summer traffic to Wrigley in June 1994. There was a person stationed there, but he has been pulled back into Simpson. He visits quite often, but once that highway opens, the people of the community are concerned that if there are no police there, more problems might arise. There is a request for a police officer to be stationed in the community of Wrigley prior to the highway being opened in June 1994.

Another community of mine is Liard. At the present time, there are two police officers. There were three at one point in time but one officer was pulled out a couple of years ago. The community has requested that an additional member be stationed there. The reason for that is Liard is one of the entry points by highway into the NWT and there needs to be additional patrols on the highway because of the border with BC, especially when the Minister of Finance is talking about increasing the price of cigarettes. He is going to be increasing the duties of the RCMP in patrolling our borders so that no illegal cigarettes enter. There is definitely a need for additional officers at all the border points.

There is a new initiative that this department has taken that I fully support, that is the community policing initiative where there are members of the communities of Fort Good Hope and Cape Dorset who have been selected to have special training to assist the RCMP work in those areas. It is a pilot project. However, I'm kind of disappointed because I was under the impression that other RCMP members were notified in other communities about the possible pilot projects. But, after nosing around and asking officers who I know in my constituency, none were aware that this program was going to take place. I'm disappointed that only the Minister's community has a pilot project. I think other communities could have been looked at as well.

I totally support the community justice initiative that is going on right now. I think it is a unique direction that this department and government is going. It is a bold move to try to get communities involved. Unfortunately, this should have happened from day one, from first contact. That didn't happen, but we should try to make the best of this program.

In the corrections area, we are spending a lot of government money to take care of people in jail. There is a lot of money going to people who take care of the inmates. I just want to say that we've been asking -- and I think I've mentioned this in the House a number of times -- for on the land programs in the west for a long time. In the Baffin they have an on the land program. It was spoken of today in this House, that it was very successful and it is a good way to approach justice. I know people who are in the corrections system who have asked for this type of program here in the west, however, nothing has been developed to date, that I'm aware of, to do a similar thing. I would like to urge the Minister and his department to look at it immediately. Maybe the people who are in the corrections system can make use of this type of rehabilitation.

I've been told that once somebody is in jail here, often they just lay around, watch TV, eat and sleep. That's basically what it boils down to. With an alternative new initiative, there may be opportunity for these people to benefit and become rehabilitated so they can take on society once they get back out again.

There are people within the jail system who certify different inmates. Some of the attitudes of some of these people are very negative and not productive for inmates. If the department could look into this, I would appreciate it.

Finally, in the area of designating young offenders, we're all aware that there is a lot of dissatisfaction on the part of the people of Fort Smith to the decision that was made by the Minister and his department to triple designate the facilities there. There was a lot of uproar about that. I just wanted to say that this was probably caused by inadequate consultation with the people of Fort Smith prior to changes being announced. I've talked to people there. Even though it is not my constituency, I know people there and some of the people who work within the system are dissatisfied because they weren't aware of any previous consultation, before changed occurred.

This government has taken pride in the fact that they have consulted with the people in the communities where they are providing programs and services. I think that perhaps in this area, this consultation lapsed. I would like to urge the Minister and his department not to overlook the precedent that this government has taken. Mahsi.