Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the Minister was completely unaware of internal problems at the North Slave Correctional Centre, problems that have been subsequently revealed by the internal review, does the Minister now question the quality of information coming to him from his own department? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that the department does a good job of getting the information that I need. There is no question that, in the case of the morale issues at North Slave and in human resources in the department as a whole, there was room for improvement. That has been set out in the report that was released in November. We are working to correct those issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the gross mismanagement that occurred at the North Slave Correctional Centre and the recommendations that have come out of the review, I am wondering if the Minister can tell us who was removed and where they are today. Are the individuals who were responsible for the mismanagement at the centre still working for the government today? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The human resources report suggested that there were some issues with how things could be done better. I am not sure if the report used the word mismanagement. I don't believe it did. So changes have been made. The management at the North Slave Correctional Centre has been changed. There have been private personnel changes. It is not normal for us to talk about what has happened to individuals in this House, so I will just have to say that changes have been made. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is clear to me that there was a dysfunctional management structure in place at the North Slave Correctional Centre, whether the Minister may want to admit to it or not. I am wondering if the Minister could, at the very least, apologize to the employees that are out at the North Slave Correctional Centre, because I believe they are owed an apology, at the very least. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the report that was completed on human resource practices in Justice clearly indicated that there were some problem areas. It is regrettable that that situation arose. I think that we have moved very quickly to deal with the issues since the report has been released. As I said, it is not a situation that I hope to see happen again. It is clearly regrettable any time that government policies and procedures are not followed and that people are not satisfied that they can get the training and support that they should. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Justice. I will start off today talking about an excerpt from Hansard from Friday, in unedited Hansard, with respect to Dene K'onia. Mr. Speaker, there seems to be a message being put out there to justify these cuts which I don't like the tone of, and I don't think it is presented accurately and clearly. I quote from Hansard, "Mr. Speaker, in the last few weeks, we have had one, sometimes two, young inmates there from south of the lake. So spending $1.5 million a year for that number of inmates is not a good expenditure of taxpayers' dollars." Mr. Speaker, anybody reading this or listening to this would be led to think that the Minister is suggesting that we are spending $1.5 million a year on the one or two inmates from south of the lake. In fact, that is not true. I would like to ask the Minister, isn't it actually true that the Dene K'onia has been at or near capacity for the last year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that I, also in Hansard, did agree to that. That was the situation when the Member asked the question on Friday. I would have to review Hansard. But I did say that what we have done, since March of last year, is put all of our young offender inmates into Dene K'onia. So, yes, Dene K'onia has been operating at greater than one or two capacity. However, one of the arguments that has been advanced for us to consider keeping Dene K'onia open is to keep clients close to their families. If we were to take that same argument for families who are not from that region, then we would have to keep them in the Yellowknife facility. We have a situation where we have two facilities right now. We can save more money if we close down Dene K'onia. It is simply a matter of economics. It has nothing to do with numbers or usage. It is a matter of where we can save the most money. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in trying to portray this to the public and to the Members of this House and even to his fellow Members of Cabinet, because I have an excerpt here of the Premier. I don't fault the Premier for saying this, but this is all any of us were ever hearing. But in front of the Dene Nation, the

chiefs on the Hay River Reserve, at a recent meeting even the Premier joins in the same song as the Justice Minister and says, "So we have a situation where there are 22 staff looking after, I believe, today, there is only one person from the South Slave in that institution. I might be wrong. It changes a bit day to day." This message creates a picture of 22 people in an institution at $1.5 million a year looking after one kid. It is an incorrect picture. It is done in order to justify this reduction. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Justice if, in fact, every justice system facility you have here in the Northwest Territories does not collect or receive residents or inmates or clients territory-wide. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would note that the quote that the Member provided did note the resident was from the South Slave. Again, it comes from the issue of keeping clients close to home. That is why that number or that reference has been used on a regular basis. Do we have clients in all of our facilities from all across the Territories? The answer is yes, we do.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, I hope the Minister would agree that it would make sense, in terms of us trying to defend our facilities to bring up the issue of, where possible, keeping clients close to the home communities and close to their families. We bring that up as a means of defending our position, but it isn't the only consideration. So I think that the Minister has put out this picture again, may I say, of 22 people looking after one kid and yet they add south of the lake as a little caveat onto the issue. But the Minister has put out an incorrect picture. On that subject, Mr. Speaker, wouldn't the Minister concur that it would be optimum to keep clients close to their homes, close to their families and close to their communities? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll answer Mrs. Groenewegen's second question. Yes, it is always better to keep the clients as close to their families as possible. We will endeavour to do that in the future. But the bottom line is that we have two facilities in operation in the Northwest Territories for young males. By closing one of them, we can accommodate all of the young males that we have in custody, and we can save a significant amount of money. That is what this is all about. Thank you.