Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't think I'm asking whether or not a young offender could be automatically registered, because I would think that would not be possible or that would not be easy. What I am asking is does the Minister know whether or not a young offender would be automatically disqualified from being registered? I'm asking from the other extreme. I could see how a young offender would not be automatically registered, but in cases where a young offender was so dangerous and a young offender was found to be very predatory and highly likely to recommit a crime, could a prosecutor file an application to register that young offender?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Mr. Chairman, under the proposed federal law, young offenders are automatically excluded, yes. As things stand right now, to release the name of a young offender who is considered a sexual predator, if the crime was that heinous it would probably wind up with the person being convicted as an adult in any case, which changes the situation. But as things stand right now, it would be extremely rare for a successful application to the courts to release information about a young offender.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the answers on the basis of what we know is this registry, even if it was in place, would not really work in the situation that we had been talking about in the House.

My last question on this item is I would like to know more about what kind of work and interaction our Department of Justice and our government is having with the federal government with respect to this bill in the House. Is there a position that the department has put forward that has the government express position on that, or is it a case of just waiting to see how that bill makes it through the House? I'm just assuming that a bill to be at that advanced a stage in Ottawa, that there would have been some kind of a work at a pan-territorial/provincial level as to the input and such. So I would like to know about what kind of involvement our government had. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, at the last federal/provincial/territorial meeting of Justice Ministers, the territorial government did take the position that it supported the development of the registry, with the condition that the government didn't know whether or not it had the money to implement the program, which is a position that has been taken by the RCMP as well, who are likely to have the lead in the implementation of the registry when it does move ahead. There are a number of other details that are going to be quite important to the Northwest Territories as the bill moves forward through the House, and we'll have to watch how it develops to make sure that it is something that we can use in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Ms. Lee. At this time I would like to ask committee if Ms. Lee can take over the chair.

Thank you. Ms. Lee.

Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Minister indicated that the federal government's contribution to the legal aid was one-third. If the Minister could provide me some updated numbers. Can he explain the total budget of legal aid again, and maybe strictly for my benefit, but if he could point out the total budget for legal aid and can he reference the total funding provided by the federal government? As I see it with my quick little math and my nice little calculator here, I have 48 percent of the budget is provided by the federal government, where he pointed out it was one-third of the budget, therefore I am missing a small portion or, in

million dollar terms, a big portion. So if the Minister could clarify that for me, maybe for my benefit, I would appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I didn't have my calculator, and Ms. Schofield is used to having one but did her calculation manually, so our number is not as accurate as the Member's.

Thank you, Minister Dent. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you. Then at this moment I believe Mr. Pokiak has questions and I will defer, but I might want to come back after Mr. Pokiak has a moment at the mike. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Thanks for trying to do my job, Mr. Hawkins. I will now recognize Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to follow up to what Mr. Yakeleya talked about earlier about legal aid and the amount of time the court party sits when they travel to the smaller communities. How quick of a turnover do the so-called people who are going to appear before court get legal aid when they actually sit down at the court hearing? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Minister Dent.

Madam Chair, a lot depends on the priority of the case. If there's a court date set and if it's a high priority case, then they will get a lawyer fairly quickly. The increase in funding that we're getting from the federal government is to help us to try and get the accused person to have a chance to meet with their lawyer in advance of the court date, so that it doesn't happen all on the same day as is common right now.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Minister Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I can't say exactly how much more time lawyers are going to have with their clients. A lot of it depends on the volume and the numbers of people who have to be seen. Again, the purpose of this money is to try and increase the opportunities for an accused person to spend with a lawyer before they appear in court, and that's what the money will be spent to do.