Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and honourable Members. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister said yesterday, community-based victims' service groups provide a much-needed service. Volunteers and staff with these groups deserve our recognition and our thanks for the good work they do. Mr. Speaker, unless we find more funding for these groups, there will be no one to thank.

These programs should be seen by the government as fundamental partners in the process of eliminating violence in communities. I know the Minister has pointed out that the federal government initiated these programs and has now walked away from them. Mr. Speaker, they were wrong to have done that and that is no excuse for us to do the same. Given the cost-effective service the public gets from these programs for the minimal investment provided by government, we must find a way to keep them going.

Using information from the North of 60 Victim Witness Association, we know that a majority of the clients being served by these programs result from family violence and sexual assault. Volunteers and staff provide crisis intervention, emotional support, information about the judicial system and process, and other assistance to help traumatized people get through the process. The emotional needs of victims completely justify the programs, but, Mr. Speaker, if you want a bottom line reason to support them, don't forget that better prepared and supported victims make better witnesses. That ensures that offenders less often get away with their crimes. Too often, in the absence of support, the victim is again victimized by the adversarial nature of our court system and the perpetrator gets off.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister has, in the past, suggested the government needs to consider whether it has the philosophical requirement to deal with victims of crime. I suggest this question has already been answered. In 1988, in recognition of the United Nations declaration of basic principles of justice for victims of crime, federal, provincial and territorial Ministers responsible for criminal justice signed a document outlining some statements of basic principles of justice for victims of crime. This document was signed on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories, by the then Minister of Justice, the Honourable Michael Ballantyne.

Mr. Speaker, there are 10 principles in this document. I had intended to read them into the record, but that would probably take a considerable amount of time so I will instead table them later on.

But, Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that without the victims service programs, the principles that this government has signed to uphold, to respect and provide justice for victims of crime, cannot be met. I continue to urge the Minister of Justice to look for ways to ensure that the existing victims service programs are able to continue and for ways to expand the programs to other communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause