Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in the case of FAS inmates, we do have people in that condition that are in our correctional facilities. Through assessment that could be identified. I think that if they do not respond to any of the programs that we have, then we will try other ways of trying to rehabilitate them for the time they are in the correctional facilities. In most cases, it really comes down to managing them rather than educating them. We do not have the resources or the programming to deal with them because it could come in all kinds of different ways. It is very difficult to deal with the situation. However, the staff at the correctional facilities, once they identify inmates that are in those conditions, then they know they will try to put them into different programs. If they do not respond, then it just comes down to managing them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the department policy is that for any legal work, they first look in the North to see what is available, to see if anybody is interested in doing the work. In some instances, if there are certain skills or experiences that are required to do something very specific, then if firms in the North cannot provide that service, then the department has gone south. This is the practice of the department.

As for the exact dollar figure of how much legal dollars have gone south from the department, we do not have that number right here. We will find it and provide the honourable Member with that information.

The honourable Member started off talking about the Legal Services Board in regard to family law. In this area, the Legal Services Board has an independent, statutory board with authority under the Legal Services Act. This board of Northerners provide the service. One of the services is the family law area. In this case, we are doing what we can to hire lawyers to do this work and the work, that is the money that is involved in this to do this work, is based on a fee per case, I believe. I guess we cannot find enough lawyers to do this work with the fee we pay.

As a result, there is difficulty in finding lawyers who want to do this type of work. I understand it is rather difficult work and that it does not pay enough according to the going rate for lawyers. I guess if we ask for more money in this area, then we could raise the fees and perhaps that would attract more lawyers to do this type of work.

We are staying with the fees that we provide and the Legal Services Board that has committed resources to the problem. I believe two family lawyers have been hired in the last couple of years. There is mediation. There is an appropriate amount of funding that has been identified to deal with mediation in this area. It is a difficult area that we are dealing with, and the Legal Services Board has made this area a priority over the last year and will continue to find different ways of increasing its capacity to deliver high quality services in this area. I will just reply to the honourable Member with that. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, we will provide that information of law services we received from outside of the Northwest Territories, what it was for and how much it cost us. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we are doing a review of on-the-land programs that this department is involved in with different individuals that are providing this service. The funding that is allocated for our department for this program is expended for this year, so we do not have any plans this year to increase the number of wilderness camps. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That is unfortunate that there is no money. I am not going to sit here and argue that we should find some more money. This is not the place to do it, I do not think. I would like to ask a question about the legal aid system.

One of the questions I would like to ask is, when is the last time the payment for legal aid has been reviewed? Has there ever been a comparison done between convictions of work that legal aid has done as compared to individuals who hire their own representation?

Knowing the socio-economic situations of many of our First Nation communities and individuals, they have to rely big time on legal aid. I have a feeling that money is a subject area to be concerned with when it comes to legal representation. If you go through legal aid, the money is not that great. The incentive of legal representatives is not that great, and I think the number of individuals we have in our correctional facilities is directly connected to it. I am just wondering if there has ever been a comparison done. That is one question. The other question is when was the last time legal aid funding for lawyer fees has been checked into? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are a couple of questions there. The first one is the cost of legal aid lawyers versus the cost of a privately hired lawyer. What are the cost differences? I am told that we have not looked at that. There are different fees...I guess we have not done that. I am told the department has not done that.

The other question was when was the last time the department and the Legal Services Board, looked at adjusting the fees of the legal aid lawyers. A couple of years ago, there was an adjustment made during budget restraint time. The fees were reduced at that time, but I will get all the accurate information, because we do not have that information here about exactly what happened. We will double check and provide that information to you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That first question was not the same kind of questions that you had, but that is a good question all the same. The question was, has there ever been a comparison done of convictions and acquittals where an individual hires his own lawyer, pays out of his own pocket because he could afford to, as compared to individuals who cannot afford to go hire their own lawyers and have to use legal aid lawyers?

I would say the cost to hire your own lawyer is a hell of a lot more than the representation you would get from legal aid. You would probably get a higher conviction rate using legal aid than hiring your own lawyer.

I am just wondering if there was ever a comparison done. If there has not been one done, can the department do one?

Justice should not have a price on it. Everyone should have equal justice. In my mind, that is the way it is supposed to be. If you cannot afford a good lawyer, you may end up in the slammer. If it is a first time offence, then you become ingrained in the system and it is hard to get out of that system. Can the Minister answer that question for me? The comparison of conviction and acquittal rates when using legal aid and convictions and acquittals when using private lawyers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. It is very interesting work that the honourable Member is referring to. It sounds like it will be difficult to do. The department and the Legal Services Board have never done that type of comparison. I could only commit to looking into it to see what the possibilities are for doing what the honourable Member is saying. Thank you.