Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the 2004-2005 Main Estimates for the Department of Justice offer details of how the department will allocate its resources to meet its mandate of administering justice, corrections and policing in the Northwest Territories.

The proposed operational budget for the department is $79.973 million. Overall this represents an increase of $4.7 million, or 6.27 percent, in the departmental budget over last year's main estimates. The capital acquisition plan budget is $645,000. The estimated revenues for the department are $10.416 million.

Working together to make communities safer remains a priority for the department and this is reflected in the main estimates.

In 2004-2005, the department will spend an additional $2.461 million in forced growth for RCMP resources. These funds will provide the RCMP with 12 new members.

Six of these new members will form a relief unit to maintain staffing levels in small detachments while members are on leave. These members will also increase patrols to communities without resident RCMP. The RCMP has indicated that the other six new members will be assigned to Inuvik, Rae, Yellowknife and Hay River.

This additional funding for the RCMP will help meet only some of the most pressing demands. The Department of Justice is working with the RCMP to meet its resource needs over the long term.

Another initiative to make communities safer is the implementation of the Protection Against Family Violence Act. This important piece of legislation will provide both short and long-term protection orders for victims of family violence. An additional $414,000 is included in the department's budget to implement this legislation during the fiscal year.

Additionally, the department is working to increase the safety of our communities with the hiring of intensive support and supervision program workers in Hay River, Yellowknife and Inuvik to provide increased supervision for young offenders who have committed serious offences. There is $253,000 included in the department's budget to support this public safety initiative.

The 2004-2005 Main Estimates also includes an additional $1.692 million in forced growth for collective agreement and other salary increases; an additional $200,000 for court registries, and $347,000 for operating the Giant Mine civil trial.

An additional $315,000 in federal funding for legal aid services will help increase access to legal aid. This money is part of the new access to justice agreement between the governments of the Northwest Territories and Canada. This funding will be used to hire an additional family law lawyer and to allow lawyers and court workers to spend more time with their clients in a community before a court appearance.

The department also receives $1.972 million from the Government of Canada to support legal aid services provided by the Legal Services Board.

There are budget reductions of $1.916 million in the 2004-2005 Main Estimates. This includes more than $1 million in reductions to travel and other operations expenses in response to the government's fiscal situation.

I would like to highlight some of the revenues collected by the Department of Justice. These revenues are collected through agreements with other governments or through fees for services provided by the department.

The department receives more than $5 million to support justice services through agreements with the Government of Canada. This includes $3.25 million for youth justice services. This revenue supports the operation of our youth custody facilities and community supervision of youth.

The Department of Justice is committed to providing a modern, safe, secure and culturally appropriate corrections system. This has resulted in the opportunity for more federal offenders to serve their sentences in the Northwest Territories, closer to their families and communities. Through an exchange of services agreements with the Government of Canada, the department expects to receive at least $980,000 annually to accommodate federal offenders.

The department has a similar agreement with the Government of Nunavut to accommodate Nunavut offenders resulting in a minimum annual revenue of $912,000.

The final main revenue area relates to fees collected by the land titles and the personal property, corporate and securities registries. The department estimates revenue of $3.081 million in the 2004-2005 fiscal year.

Those are the highlights of the 2004-2005 Main Estimates for the Department of Justice, and would be pleased to answer any questions Members of the committee may have.

Thank you, Minister Dent. At this time, I will ask Ms. Lee, the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Programs if she would provide us with committee's overview of these main estimates. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Standing Committee on Social Programs met with the Minister and his officials on Thursday, February 19, 2004 to review the draft main estimates for the Department of Justice.

Members of the standing committee noted $79,973,000 in operations and maintenance, $645,000 for infrastructure acquisition and estimated revenues of $10,416,000 for the department in 2004-2005.

The standing committee made note of the following issues and concerns.

Capital Planning Process

The committee was very concerned with how the capital planning process works. It was noted that in last year's infrastructure acquisition plan over $10.0 million starting in 2004/2005 was identified for the construction of a new Territorial Women's Correctional Centre in Fort Smith. In this year's plan that project no longer appears.

Committee questions how a $10 million project could have been important enough to be included last year and yet not survive the current year's process.

Committee has taken this concern to the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight for a possible recommendation on the seeming inequities in the capital planning process.

RCMP In Small Communities

There are communities in the Northwest Territories that are too small to generate a sufficient caseload to justify a permanent RCMP detachment. With recent court cases dictating that single-member detachments are not legal under the Canada Labour Code, it is unlikely the RCMP will be able to have a presence in every community in the Northwest Territories for the foreseeable future.

Regardless of the factors, the committee believes there is a strong case to be made to change the way policing is delivered in communities without a regular police presence.

Using their own experiences committee Members illustrated that even within communities of a similar size, there is a need for different levels of policing services.

The community of Sachs Harbour is a small traditional community that would like to have a permanent detachment once again. Failing that, the community would like to see RCMP patrols on a more regular basis with a possible emphasis on working with the children in school to deal with a recent increase in vandalism.

The community of Colville Lake has a different need. Resource exploration activity in the area has meant that many residents, of what was a traditional community, are now participating in the wage economy. Excess money has meant an increase in alcohol and drug use and related problems especially around paydays. Residents of the community of Colville Lake would like to see the RCMP in their community during the payday weekends to provide increased security.

Committee hopes some of the resources provided by this budget will go toward improved policing in communities without full-time detachments.

Increase In Number Of Police Officers In The Northwest Territories

The department and Minister of Justice have embarked on an ambitious plan to increase the number of police officers serving the general public. The committee supports this plan.

This year's main estimates contain an additional $2,461,000 in forced growth spending for police services. This funding will provide nearly $1 million in increased funding for operations and maintenance, with the remainder used to hire 12 new officers for the NWT. Six officers will form the core of a relief unit to make sure that detachments in the communities are fully staffed when permanently posted officers go on holidays. The other six officers are to be posted in Yellowknife, Inuvik, Rae and Hay River.

Working from a resource requirement report prepared by the RCMP last year the department plans to provide funding to hire an additional 15 officers over the next two budget planning cycles.

The Members of the Standing Committee on Social Programs will not be offering any comment on where these new officers should be posted as it is understood

that the decisions related to the number of police officers in any community is the sole purview of the RCMP.

The committee looks forward to reviewing the Minister's plans for increasing the number of RCMP officers in the NWT during the next business plan review in September.

RCMP Positions Paid For Solely By The Federal Government

Several positions for which the federal government is responsible, related to diamonds, drugs and organized crime, are not staffed at this time. Members are concerned that as the number of diamond mines increases, and the pipeline gets closer to fruition, a rise in organized crime and drug use will occur.

The committee supports the superintendent of "G" Division and the Minister in lobbying to ensure that these positions are filled well in advance of any increase in resource development activity.

Members also offer their support for having further positions in the RCMP related to diamonds and protection of Canada's arctic sovereignty moved from the south to the Northwest Territories.

Planning For The Pipeline

Committee is concerned with a perceived lack of coordination and planning related to the proposed pipeline down the Mackenzie.

There is a need to work together now at the community and territorial levels with the RCMP and the courts to identify what the anticipated problems will be and how the justice system will deal with them. Waiting until such time as the construction of the pipeline is upon us is unacceptable.

In the next business planning cycle, committee will be looking for evidence of a plan addressing the justice needs of residents living along the pipeline corridor.

Continuity Of Care For Inmates / Justice And Health And Social Services

It was noted by several members of the committee that there seemed to be a lack of sufficient linkage between the programming offered by the Department of Justice while a person is incarcerated and those services offered by the Department of Health and Social Services and their partners upon the release of that person. Members believe that a community-based case-management approach must be taken to ensure an inmate's success upon release.

Committee members understand that totally cooperative efforts are somewhat limited by privacy legislation, but would point out that at the very least the Department of Justice should be identifying treatment opportunities in an inmate's home community and offering to assist the inmate in accessing these services upon release. Hopefully, a released offender would take advantage of the programs and services available to him or her.

The Department of Health and Social Services has the responsibility of ensuring that programs and services are available in all communities in the Northwest Territories. If we release an inmate into a community, without adequate supports, we are setting that person up for failure. Chances are without those supports, a person will gravitate to the situations and behaviour that caused them to offend in the first place and end up back in jail.

The committee believes there is a need for a multi-pronged approach that includes a role for the community justice committees, the local community governments, aboriginal governments, chiefs and the mayors in ensuring the successful reintegration of an offender into his or her home community.

Any help we as a government can give to residents that limit their contact with the criminal justice system is worthwhile.

The committee will be following up on this issue with the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Social Services.

River Ridge Facility In Fort Smith

The committee would like to commend and support the department in its decision to convert the River Ridge Young Offenders Facility into an adult male facility to deal with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders amongst inmates.

It is important inmates who may not have the cognitive skills to recognize the consequences of their actions are removed from situations where they may be subject to violence from other inmates or disciplinary action for acts unacceptable to the correctional institution.

Because of the decrease in the number of young offenders sentenced to custodial sentences, this program also has the benefit of utilizing unused facilities and staff to deliver an effective program that relieves strain on other adult institutions.

The committee looks forward to reviewing the effectiveness of this exciting new correctional program during the life of this Assembly.

Young Offenders' Facilities

With the coming into force of the federal Youth Justice Act in April of 2003 the way in which young persons under the age of 18 are treated by the criminal justice system has changed significantly.

The new Youth Justice Act focuses on a community-based approach rather than the custodial/incarceration approach under the old Young Offenders Act. This has meant an increase in the use of warnings, alternative sentencing options and probation in the young person's home community. The consequence of this is that the majority of young offender facilities have been operating at well below capacity.

The Arctic Tern young women's facility in Inuvik is a case in point. Prior to the coming into force of the new legislation that facility was operating at or near capacity, caring for between eight to 11 female young offenders at any one time with a staff complement of 20 employees. Since April of 2003 the Arctic Tern facility has averaged two offenders at any one time with the same staffing complement.

Committee notes there would be lower costs involved for female young offenders if they were sent to out-of-territory institutions. However, this has to be balanced with the

human costs of displacing offenders so far from their families and communities.

It was noted by the committee that the federal government is subsidizing 60 percent, or approximately $1.2 million of the $2 million total operations cost of the Arctic Tern facility. Hence, the cost to the Government of the Northwest Territories to house two young offenders is not as high as it would appear on first blush.

The standing committee believes that it is important to review how sentencing under this new legislation plays out over the next while before any decisions are made in rationalizing young offender facilities in the Northwest Territories.

Members of the committee will be following up on this issue in the next and in subsequent business planning cycles.

The committee noted the act was originally drafted in 1988 and has not been significantly examined since that time.

There have been numerous complaints from both landlords and tenants made to Members of the Legislative Assembly asking for this legislation to be examined and changed to meet the present day realities.

The standing committee is satisfied with the Minister's commitment to include amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act as part of the legislative agenda.

Wilderness Camps And The Correctional System

Committee opinion is split in the value of the wilderness camp program with some Members having questions as to the long-term viability of the program and whether the low level of inmate uptake justifies the sustained cost, while other Members believe the program should be expanded so that inmates could be in camps closer to their home communities.

The committee noted there is a request for proposal out right now calling for interested parties to put in proposals for the operation of wilderness camps. The Standing Committee on Social Programs looks forward to a briefing on the results of this RFP and further discussions on the wilderness camp program.

First Nations Policing

The standing committee is very interested in the continuation and expansion of this program in the Northwest Territories. Members strongly believe that a community is best served by an effective police force made up of persons representative of their culture and language. The RCMP and the department are to be commended for their efforts thus far.

Committee will be following up on this issue throughout the next business planning cycle.

Auxiliary Police In The NWT

The committee noted that the use of auxiliary police in those communities with an RCMP detachment is an important way of improving police services at the community level while not impacting seriously on the budget.

According to information supplied by the department there are presently 35 auxiliary police in communities. This ranges from 11 auxiliary in Yellowknife to one auxiliary in Deline. After security clearances, the RCMP provides training.

The Standing Committee on Social Programs strongly encourages communities and residents to take advantage of this program and to help the RCMP in delivering services in their communities.

Northern Rents For Federal Employees

Members are aware that there may be a change in the way rents are calculated for federal employees. As Members understand it, rents may be increased to market rates. This could have serious consequences for the Territories as it may make it difficult to attract RCMP and DND personnel to accept northern postings.

In addition, should the federal government decide to increase to market rents there is a strong likelihood that the isolated post allowance would be increased to compensate. If this happens it would result in increased costs to the GNWT for their portion of the isolated post allowance related to the payment for RCMP services.

The committee will be monitoring this issue and following up at the next opportunity with the Minister of Justice. Madam Chair, that concludes our committee's report on the Department of Justice budget review. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. We will move on now to general comments for the Department of Justice. Are there any general comments? I'm sorry. Would the Minister like to bring in witnesses? Mr. Dent.

Yes, please, Madam Chair.

Okay. Does the committee agree?

Thank you. I will ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort Mr. Dent's witnesses to the table.

Minister Dent, for the record, would you please introduce your witnesses.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, on my right, I have Deputy Minister Donald Cooper; to my left is Assistant Deputy Minister Shirley Kemeys-Jones; and we also have with us Ms. Kim Schofield, who is the director of finance.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Now are there any general comments?

This is more a question I had for the Minister. I am not on the Social Programs committee. I just wanted to ask a question on page 2 of 4 where the Minister mentions that they will be hiring intensive support and supervision program workers in Hay River. I wonder if I could get the Minister to expand on that a bit. I haven't heard of this before. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. Mr. Dent.

Madam Chair, this is a program of supervision for young offenders, particularly young offenders who have been involved in more serious offences. It's a more intensive form of supervision, which they are very closely supervised to reduce the risk of re-offending and to improve the chances that they will integrate successfully back into the community.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I get an indication from the Minister if this includes employees who are presently employed at Dene K'Onia or are these new workers? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The person has already been hired. They are working in the probation offices in Hay River.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So we are only talking one worker? It says workers, so I didn't know how many we were looking at. Is it just the one person?

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. There are three people in total across the Territories, so one in each of the locations named in my opening comments.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. I have Mr. Pokiak.