Thank you, Mr. Chair. One question I would have with regard to the program is I don't know why the department would be marketing the inmates. Why even give them the option or the choice of either on the land or jail? Why not market the judges who are handing down the sentences and say, you are going out to the bush camp whether you like it or not. It is a done deal right there. I think the justice here in the NWT is starting to cater more to the inmates as opposed to the justice system itself, and always seeking more inmate approval for where they want to go, how they want to be sentenced, how they want to carry out their sentence and all that. I don't think that all of these options should even be put forward on the table to any inmate that is breaking the law. I don't think he should be given an option of where he wants to serve his sentence, how long he wants to serve his sentence for, and where he wants to go, whether out in the bush camp in Aklavik or out in the bush camp in Fort Resolution. I don't think that should be something that they should be even given any input into. That even goes so far as the incentive pay. I am not sure what that incentive pay is for. Is it for the people who are running the camp or the people who are going to the camp? I am sure that if people are being paid to go out on the land, that is a given. They are just going to be there. I know there is no monitoring with a lot of on-the-land programs here. There is no justice official or RCMP officer that goes out and visits these camps on a regular basis. There is nothing like that that ever happens. Basically, these people are just out on a holiday. It is just like going out to a tourist camp. They do a little bit of hunting, lots of fishing, just kick back and relax in the sun until they do their sentencing. They can meet up with other people from the communities while they are out on the land and touch base with them and get their supplies through those avenues. There is no security when they are out on the land. If it is not the way it is should be run and the government supports it, then I can see it just taken right off and getting right out of control. A lot of community justice workers are coming back to me and saying I go out on the land and I see these guys who are supposed to be in jail. They are just enjoying the life of three squares a day and all you have to do is hunt and fish. That is just perfect, as far as I am concerned. I just have a problem with that kind of a justice system or program like that. There has to be more stringent controls put in place and more monitoring, like even getting an RCMP officer out there every other week or something just to make sure that everybody is still intact and there are no alcohol and drugs in these camp setups. Something like that is what I would like to see moving forward. But enough with that, I guess.

I just want to talk a little about these services to the government that the department provides with legislative drafting and whatnot. I am just looking at the activity summaries from past years. It looks like the contract services have gone up and compensation benefits have also gone up. How many services do this department's own lawyers provide so far as legislative drafting? I know this was a discussion item in one of the committee meetings where a lot of this legislative drafting is contracted out; the majority of it is, anyway. Many of the lawyers in the GNWT don't even provide a service to the GNWT. A lot of them are actually more of a disservice. More of them are on stress leave, sick leave and all kinds of leave. I guess the lawyers know what is good and what is not. I just think there has to be more accountability in that department as far as legislation goes and everything like that, a legal counsel to the GNWT departments. I think the legal counsel should be a given for everything that this government...Any program or initiative that it decides to undertake or direction or implementation of a policy that it wants to implement, legal counsel should be a given. I don't even know why the government has to ask its own lawyers for legal counsel on anything. They say we always have to go back and get legal counsel to look at this. That should all be a given. That is part of the homework and the whole government process of rolling out any initiative or program. We have to have your legal opinion already nailed down. I think it is always cumbersome for any department to carry out any kind of initiative or direction without proper legal counsel.

Other than that, I think the courthouse thing is just going to...I don't know what business plan that was put in, made how many years ago, was in the books. But if it has been in the books for a few years, I can't see holding it off for another year or two being a real hindrance to this government's or the department's vision or mandate anyway. I just couldn't support it because, as far as I'm concerned, it is just opening the door to make it easier to shut down all the other court registries, court buildings and VP offices in all the other regions and just bring it all here to Yellowknife. Like my friend from Hay River South was saying, you can just make it all here in Yellowknife, and you can justify it because that is the way it looks like it is going. To me, it doesn't look good for the department. I know you are not going to get any support from the people of the NWT. If that courthouse even breaks ground, you would have a lot of public outcry on why that has come about. There has been no consultation whatsoever, as far as I am concerned. Maybe the Minister can give me some of the insight into some of these issues. Thank you.