Debates of July 4th, 2000

This is page numbers 397 - 466 of the Hansard for the 14th Assembly, 3rd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairman.

Topics

Members Present

Item 1: Prayer

Condolences To The Family Of Mary Beth Miller

Pension Entitlements Due To Former Giant Mine Workers

Highway No. 5

Recognition To Volunteers Of Hay River Museum Society

Democratic Victories Won By Mexican Voters

Treatment Facilities, Programs And Services

Affordable Housing

Item 4: Returns To Oral Questions

Item 5: Recognition Of Visitors In The Gallery

Addictions Treatment In The Nwt

Federal Responsibility For Giant Mine Pensioners

Proposed Hotel Tax Projections

Fair Treatment Of NWT Workers

North Slave Addictions Treatment Facilities

Grant And Contribution Accountability

Giant Mine Pensioners

Federal Environment And Development Commitments

Funding For Improvements To Highway No. 8

Additional Federal Funding Sources

Health Concerns Due To Dust Inhalation

Proposed Hotel Tax Projections

Bill 10: An Act To Amend The Adoption Act

Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Wilderness Camps

North Slave Territorial Correctional Centre

Probation Officers

Human Rights Legislation

Inmate Programming In Correctional Facilities

Stand-alone Courthouse

First Nations Policing

Young Offenders Review

Affirmative Action

Targets And Measures

Family Law Backlog At Legal Aid

Informatics Plan

Position Report Explanation And Employee Appraisals

Alternative Justice

Victim Impact Statement Policy

Business Plan Format

Recommendation To Work Cooperatively With Legal Services Board To Clear Backlog Of Family Law Cases In The Legal Aid System (carried)

Recommendation That The Minister Instruct The Department Of Justice To Place A Greater Emphasis On Literacy In Inmate Programming (carried)

Mental Health And Addictions Strategy

Early Childhood Development And The Children And Youth Agenda

Child Welfare League Review And Other Initiatives

Home Care Programs And Palliative Care

Long-term Care Facilities And Repatriation From Southern Institutions

Governance Issues

Medical Travel Policy

Computer Records Security

Funding Implications

Reporting Requirements And Business Plan Format

Integration Of Income Support And Disability Pensions

Sustainability Of Care

Recommendation To Examine Number Of Nurses Requiring Upgrade Of Qualifications (carried)

Recommendation Of Development Of A Computer Security Strategy (carried)

Item 20: Report Of Committee Of The Whole

Item 22: Orders Of The Day

Committee Motion 16-14(3): Recommendation That The Minister Instruct The Department Of Justice To Place A Greater Emphasis On Literacy In Inmate Programming (carried)
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 428

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Sutton. Mr. Bell.

Page 428

Brendan Bell Yellowknife South

Thank you. I would think that would be one of the possible major factors, maybe more so than a population blip, but I am wondering if the Minister can tell us when the manual review will be completed.

Page 428

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Sutton.

Page 428

Sutton

We anticipate we will have a more complete picture within two months, by the end of the summer.

Page 428

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Sutton. Mr. Bell.

Page 428

Brendan Bell Yellowknife South

So it will take another couple of months to review the 80 or so files. Is that correct?

Page 428

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Sutton.

Page 428

Sutton

I am not sure where the number 80 comes from and I do not recall offhand how many files we will be looking at, but we are going to do a review of a certain period, several months last year and then compare that to a similar period this year, or this most recent year, and that involves going through a number of corrections files. It also involves going through a number of court files and identifying, pulling factors or information in a number of areas from each of those files. So it is fairly labour intensive.

Page 428

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Sutton. Mr. Bell.

Page 428

Brendan Bell Yellowknife South

Thank you. I can appreciate that there would be a fair amount of work that would go into this. I think the 80 was what I thought I had remembered. I thought there were 80 young offenders at this point this year, compared to 50 some last year. So that is why I referred to the 80 and suggested they would have to look at 80 or so individual cases. Thank you. Just a comment.

Page 428

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Roland.

Page 428

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, under community justice corrections under the program details, under adult facilities, 1998 and 1999 actual states $11,333,000. The 1999-2000 main estimates show $8,350,000 and then the revised estimates are $8,528,000. And this fiscal year the department is projecting expenditures of $11.8 million. Can we get a reason as to why there was such a dip and then back up again? Thank you.

Page 428

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you Mr. Roland, Mr. Antoine.

Page 428

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in 1998-1999 for adult facilities it was $11,333,000. This is prior to division. So we had a total budget for the whole Northwest Territories, and 1999-2000 was the division year. That is when about $5 million was taken out of our base in anticipation of a fairly large number of inmates from Nunavut, and the numbers that come. So as a result, we have increased the adult facility base to $11,881,000, to make up for it. In 1999-2000, those costs overruns were because of the Inuit inmates were not in there, and it still costs the same whether you have 20 inmates or 60 inmates. It does not make a difference. You have to have a certain number of correctional workers to take care of 20 and at the same, it is the same number to take care of 60, so we had to put that back into the base. Thank you.

Page 428

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Mr. Roland.

Page 428

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. According to the main estimates document, it says the 1998-1999 amounts have been restated to include only the amounts applicable to the new Western Territory. So the figure of $11,333,000 according to this, states that it is only the Western Territory. Can we get more information on that?

Page 428

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Antoine.

Page 428

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The 1998-1999 $11,333,000 was what was required to run the facilities here in the west. It does not include Nunavut, just the whole of the Northwest Territories, but not Nunavut and those $5 million that got taken out in 1999-2000 and was in the vote 4/5 arrangement to cover the Inuit inmates, we had to reinstate it in this year's budget. I do not know if that answers your question.

Page 428

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Antoine, Mr. Roland.

Page 428

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The numbers I see reflect about a $3 million drop and then back up again, unless he is referring to other information on the contracts. Was contracting backup services, is that the area? Further to that, the Minister said there were some cost overruns and that is why it has gone back up. So the figure for 1999-2000 revised estimates, that is not the final figure for the year delivering the program. Thank you.

Page 428

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Antoine.

Page 428

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

I will ask the acting director, Kim Schofield, to answer. Thank you.

Page 428

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Minister Antoine. Ms. Schofield.

Page 428

Schofield

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will start with the $5 million. There was a portion reduced out of the adult facilities and a portion reduced out of the youth facilities for a total of $5 million. The budget in 1999-2000 revised was the actual budget we had. However, the expenditures were higher than the budget because we were to transfer $5 million of expenditures from the vote 1 into the vote 4, and we could not transfer $5 million because we had not received the number of inmates we had anticipated. Thank you.

Page 429

The Chair Paul Delorey

Thank you, Ms. Schofield. Mr. Roland.

Debates of July 4th, 2000

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