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.