Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to an Oral Question asked by Mr. Delorey on June 14, 2002, regarding the reasons for building the North Slave Correctional Facility in Yellowknife.
Standards and criteria for correctional facilities were developed in 1994. These were used to decide where the replacement for the Yellowknife Correctional Centre and the new young offender facility should be located. In 1998, a decision was made to locate these facilities in Yellowknife. This decision was re-examined and confirmed by the Government of the Northwest Territories.
The following are the reasons why the department decided to place the new North Slave Correctional Facility in Yellowknife:
- Yellowknife has a resident Supreme Court, Territorial Court, JP Court, Court of Appeal, RCMP headquarters, and a large number of resident law firms. As a result, there are more accused people being dealt with in Yellowknife. Many of these must be held in custody before or after their case is finished.
- The majority of court appearances take place in Yellowknife. A remand centre is required in the city to hold adults and youth in custody pending trial. The North Slave Correctional Facility will provide that remand space. If this facility were built in another community, there would be the additional cost to build and run a remand centre for adults and youth in Yellowknife.
- Almost every flight in the NWT passes through Yellowknife prior to reaching its final destination. Costs to transport Yellowknife offenders as well as those from points outside of Yellowknife would increase if the facility were built elsewhere.
- If the new North Slave facility were located in another community, there would be significant relocation or layoff costs. In 1998, it was estimated that these costs could total over $1.5 million.
- In 1998, it was estimated that the Government of the NWT would save approximately $1.4 million by building a new young offender facility together with the new adult facility. These savings would be lost if these facilities were located separately. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.