Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to definitely speak in support of the Justice Minister's move to revert the court registries cuts both in Inuvik and in Hay River. Although this decision was done a little while ago, I wish he would have continued the tone of access to justice and how I often speak in favour of that, the fact that justice is often served better by the people and when the people can get it. Quite often that is a problem.
I did speak the other day in regard to my support to see action with the legal aid office getting that future support, again continuing that concern that I have about access to justice. So I wish to emphasize that. So those were definitely good changes. Those changes have far-reaching impacts into the communities. If you start eliminating jobs of that magnitude in a community, that
has a far-reaching effect on the spirit of the community. I would go into details which I don't have, but the multiplying factor of what job effects and how it affects the community, but I know it's in the range of three to four. So one job loss has a multiplier of three to four people out there.
But we all know, if you've lived in a small community, you realize the change of one or two jobs does have a ripple effect in the community. So you don't have to throw a big rock into the pond to see the water move. So I wish to emphasize my support for those two changes that went to the court registries.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to hear more about what the Minister plans for further additions to the RCMP over the long term. I was just reading the CBC web site and it talked about a break-in in Fort Good Hope. As I understand it, Fort Good Hope has three RCMP officers at this time, and there's a quote by the acting commander which is, "It comes as a surprise to many people that police can be victims of crime, as well, and it's rare but it happens." That's a quote from Inspector Greg Morrow with regard to someone breaking into the RCMP station.
Simply, I would like to hear what the Minister is doing to support the communities that don't have an RCMP presence on a regular basis. So if an RCMP station in a community with three officers can be broken into and stuff happens, what are we doing actively to help protect and support the RCMP in the area of a community that has no permanent RCMP presence? I would like to hear some thoughts from the Minister at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.