Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a data base of the consolidated Statutes of the Northwest Territories is on line and available on the Internet. The consolidated statutes are located within the Access to Justice Network, also called ACJNet, which is sponsored in part by the federal Department of Justice.
The statutes data base is a joint venture of the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal Department of Justice, with the latter having agreed to bear the costs of creating and maintaining the data base.
The data base was set up in February, 1996. Since that time, users have been accessing NWT Statutes an average of 1500 times per month. These numbers should increase as the statutes data base and the GNWT web site are being hot linked together. A user will be able to travel either way between the sites at the click of a mouse.
The statutes data base will only be truly useful if it is kept current. To this end, the statutes will be updated twice yearly. The material necessary to update the statutes to October 1, 1996, has been submitted to the ACJNet manager. The data base will be next updated in the spring.
The statutes themselves and all the on-line tools that assist in accessing the statutes are fully bilingual in English and French. I can report, Mr. Speaker, that consolidations of the Rules of the Territorial Court, Supreme Court, and Court of Appeal will also be made available on the ACJNet as the next phase of the project, which will culminate with the eventual expansion of the data base to include consolidations of territorial regulations.
The on-line availability of the statutes enhances the public's access to the laws of the Northwest Territories. ACJNet is a free service and for Internet users our statutes are only a few keystrokes away. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.