Thank you, Madam Chair. Committee has difficulty accepting the department's rationale and anticipated cost-savings associated with the closure of the remand unit at the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre.

Members could not reconcile how the shifting of the responsibility for remand prisoners to the RCMP cells in Hay River would result in any significant cost-savings. The RCMP will have to expend resources to guard and transport remand prisoners. Just because this expense will be hidden within the larger overall contribution made to the RCMP to provide law enforcement services to the residents of the Northwest Territories does not mean we will not be on the hook for the expense. It just means the expense will no longer show on the GNWT's books.

Another area of concern for committee members was the issue of how much time would the handling of remand prisoners take away from the RCMP's ability to provide community patrol services in the South Slave.

In cases where the RCMP plane was not available to transport prisoners to court dates in Yellowknife, an RCMP officer would have to escort a prisoner on a commercial flight. Is taking RCMP officers out of the community a progressive step, considering the considerable investment this department has made in increasing the number of RCMP in Hay River? Committee members also see a need for an increased police presence in Hay River once pipeline construction begins, and have trouble supporting any actions that could possibly reduce their presence in the community.

The majority of members of the Standing Committee on Social Programs, with the concurrence of their counterparts on the Accountability and Oversight committee, recommended to the department during the main estimates review, that the funding for the operation of the remand unit at the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre in the amount of $400,000 be reinstated.

The Financial Management Board has refused to reconsider its position and the remand unit remains on the chopping block.

Recommendation

The Standing Committee on Social Programs recommends that funding for the remand unit at the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre be reinstated in the 2005-2006 Main Estimates for the Department of Justice. Madam Chair, I will now turn to Ms. Lee, our committee chair, to continue the report.