Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are 30 community justice committees active in the Northwest Territories. Given the number of communities, yes, we have a good number of communities that are served by community justice committees.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, how do we measure their success? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a number of committees that are active. How we measure their success is that they are, in almost every community where they are active, successfully diverting cases from the courts and involving offenders and victims in the community in sentence circles or in other diversionary processes so that the courts aren't used as the means to address the offender. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Is it a very complicated process to get a community justice committee established? To what extent are we providing resources and support for these organizations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We provide funding for the operation of justice committees in every community. The operation amount is provided on a per capita basis, but every community is also qualified for a $20,000 grant to hire a part-time coordinator to assist the committee in its operation. We have had the regional justice people who have helped set these committees up across the Northwest Territories. Now that they are in operation across the Territories, this budget proposes to eliminate those positions. But not all of the savings will be kept by the department or turned back to the government coffers. In fact, 50 percent or $247,000, I believe, is being kept as available to community justice committees. So those committees that are active and being successful in diversion will be able to apply for extra funds as they need them to increase their activities. So we are going to use this as an opportunity to encourage the committees to become even more active in taking on cases and diverting.

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

Mr. Speaker, thank you. I realize that community justice committees are not going to take over or solve all of the justice requirements of our country and our laws. So I wanted to see to what extent are the police, the judges and the Crown prosecutors -- people already involved in administering justice in the Northwest Territories -- engaged or connected with the work of community justice committees. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is crucial that the RCMP be actively engaged with the justice committees because they have to be prepared to work to move an offender into working with the community justice committee instead of prosecution. So we need to have the Crown and the RCMP, and all the players have to be supportive. We are finding that, across the Territories, the RCMP is very heavily-invested in the program. The local members all understand the value. We would rather see young people, in particular, dealt with by people in the community rather than being sentenced to terms outside the community.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated in the Member's statement, there are a lot of people in the city and across the Territories, I am sure, who are very concerned about the increasing rates of crimes. When concerned people got together and called a meeting, there were enough people to fill the Northern United Place. I can tell you that there was not an empty seat. All of these community people came to say that they wanted to make a difference. They didn't want to just complain about the stats or waiting for the government to do it, or the RCMP to do it.

There were so many people with willingness, energy and commitment to do something about it. They have worked everything out. It took a long time. They are on the ground now. All they are asking is recognition on the part of the government that they are doing good work and need a little bit of partnership. They are asking for no more than maybe $15,000 to $20,000 a year. There are 80 to 90 people. They took their private time out to be trained. They drive around in their vehicles with their walkie-talkies. There are some who spend every weekend patrolling Yellowknife streets. So far, they've gotten help from the RCMP. The RCMP supplied $5,000 in grant for fuel. They were able to get...

Do you have a question, Ms. Lee?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am sorry. I am breaching the rule, but I am telling you, surely this is a great opportunity for government to say we recognize your good work and we are going to do something about it. I would like to ask the Minister of Justice if he could make the commitment to look into whatever he could find in his Justice budget, to see if he could lend out $5,000. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't disagree with the Member that the community wellness coalition and particularly the programs that they have brought in, like the COPS program, are extremely valuable programs and have brought members of the community into helping to deal with the issues that we face in our community. The RCMP and everybody involved in crime prevention will tell you that that is what it takes. It takes people from the community getting involved. The RCMP and this government supported the work of an RCMP officer to work with the wellness coalition to get things established. We have now agreed to support the work of an officer in the Sahtu region to work full time to help communities in the Sahtu develop the same sort of approach. So do we support this kind of initiative? Absolutely. Will I look for a way to support them within our budget? Yes, I will, and I won't look at it as a loan.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Short supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I think it goes without saying and Members have stated that all governments spend way too much money looking after people after they have committed crime; to house them and such. But surely $5,000 or $10,000 is not a lot of money. So I will take the Minister's answer as something very positive. Could I ask the Minister to make a commitment to report back to Members, or to myself separately via letter, informing me as to what he has been able to do to support this program financially? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Mr. Speaker, yes.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.