Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the message we are getting here is that we should encourage young people in the Territories to pursue trades. They would be much better paid.
We are not able to get the hours limitation right now, but I have heard from lawyers that there is a real concern among the legal fraternity that people who are perhaps facing a decade in jail are not getting very much in terms of compensated hours by lawyers for representation. I understand lawyers are in effect subsidizing the legal system by providing a lot of service free of charge because they cannot bill.
However, it really does call into question the protection to the individual in terms of whether or not they can get adequate representation to appear in court. I think we are getting into a dangerous situation here.
I recognize the Minister has said this is supposed to be a shared area between the feds and the GNWT in terms of expenses, but we are going to have to get much more aggressive with the feds or we are going to have to be prepared to cough up. Otherwise, we are in significant danger of having a number of people incarcerated who maybe should not be because they have not been able to get adequate representation.
Justice delayed is justice denied. I think that is true, but somebody who does not get adequate representation is also being denied justice. Whether that is because of a lack of time for somebody in a small community to meet with a lawyer so that the whole story is available, or because of a lack of adequate facilities for translation. In any case, whatever the cause, I think it is unacceptable and people are going to jail when they might not otherwise do so.
As you know, a number of us think this is a serious area, Mr. Minister, and would encourage you to get on with the study. You are going to have to find more money, and that either means get to work on the feds or else we are going to have to cough up ourselves. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
