Agreed.
Debates of Feb. 20th, 2006
This is page numbers 1119 - 1168 of the Hansard for the 15th Assembly, 4th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was going.
Topics
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Some Hon. Members
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Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
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Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
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The Chair David Ramsay
Does committee agree that the consideration of the Department of Health and Social Services main estimates is concluded?
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Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
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The Chair David Ramsay
Thank you, committee. I would like to thank you, Minister Miltenberger, Mr. St. Germaine and Mr. Murray, for being with us this afternoon. Thank you.
At this time, judging the clock, what is the wish of committee? Mr. Menicoche.
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The Chair David Ramsay
Thank you, committee. We will just give the folks a few minutes to clear up and we will proceed with Justice.
Thank you, committee. We will now ask the Minister responsible for the Department of Justice to provide his opening comments on his department's estimates. Mr. Bell.
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Brendan Bell Yellowknife South
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to present the Department of Justice's main estimates for the fiscal year 2006-07.
The main estimates propose an operations and maintenance budget of $83.8 million and an infrastructure investment plan of $4 million. The operations and maintenance budget is an increase of five percent over the 2005-06 Main Estimates.
The increase is largely due to additional costs of policing in communities, the corrections services human resource action plan and the Collective Agreement. There has also been a reduction of $1.5 million due to the human resource amalgamation and over $800,000 in mandated reductions.
The department has six main areas of activity:
- • Services to government: The department is, in effect, the government's law firm. Staff lawyers draft legislation and provide legal advice to all GNWT departments. The department also works with communities and other departments to respond to family violence, improve supports to families in conflict, and prepare for the impacts of resource development; $8.6 million is budgeted for services to government.
- • Law enforcement: Policing services are contracted to the RCMP. This year, six new RCMP positions will be created. This is in addition to the 22 positions that were added to communities in the past three years and $25 million has been budgeted for law enforcement activities.
- • Legal aid services: The Legal Services Board ensures that all eligible NWT residents receive legal services. There are three clinics. The Yellowknife and Inuvik clinics provide criminal and family law services. A new Family Law Clinic was opened in Yellowknife last year. Lawyers provide legal services to eligible people in all NWT communities at no cost. The Legal Services Board provides public legal education and is responsible for the Court Worker Program in Northwest Territories communities. The department has budgeted more than $4 million for legal aid, which includes contributions from the federal government.
- • Courts: The department also operates the NWT courts. The total budget of $8.56 million includes money for the Justice of the Peace Court Program, Territorial Court, the Supreme Court, and the Court of Appeal, along with the court registries, libraries and reporters.
- • Community Justice and Corrections: The department has budgeted $34 million for adult and young offender facilities, probation, wilderness camps, and cultural programs to support the rehabilitation of offenders. This money also funds programs aimed at preventing crime within communities through increased community participation, that supports victims' initiatives and supports community justice needs.
- • Services to the public: Just over $3 million is budgeted for services to the public that includes funding for the coroner's office, the public trustee, the rental office, legal registries and the Maintenance Enforcement Program.
For the past several years, there have been new pressures placed on the NWT courts. Outside of Yellowknife, this has meant longer court circuits and more jury trials in communities. In 2005, the Supreme Court had 113 sitting days in communities outside Yellowknife and that's more than three times the number of days the court sat in communities the previous year.
This increase in court activity is also being experienced in Yellowknife, where courtroom usage has increased steadily and scheduled court appearances have doubled in the last five years.
Although the department has made good progress in implementing the corrections human resource action plan, there still is a lot of work to do. The main estimates include proposed new funding of $1.4 million to support training and staffing levels. This will make NWT correctional centres safer and support programs for inmates.
Those are the key points of the 2006-07 Department of Justice main estimates. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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The Chair David Ramsay
Thank you, Minister Bell, for your department's comments. I would now like to turn to Mr. Yakeleya to provide the Standing Committee on Social Programs opening comments. Mr. Yakeleya.
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Norman Yakeleya Sahtu
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have committee members reading portions of our report. I will start off with Mr. Braden and then Mr. McLeod, followed by Mr. Jackson Lafferty and Mr. Calvin Pokiak. I will turn it over to Mr. Braden.
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Bill Braden Great Slave
Introduction
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Members of the Standing Committee on Social Programs as Members of the Accountability and Oversight committee were involved in the new pre-budget consultation process with the people of the Northwest Territories in late August of 2005. Hearings were held north and south of the lake and gave ordinary northerners and non-governmental organizations the opportunity to provide input to MLAs on the priorities that the budget should focus on.
The committee then met with the Minister and his officials on Monday, September 22, 2005, to review the draft business plan of the Department of Justice.
Members also received a briefing from the Minister of Finance on January 19, 2006, outlining the changes to the budget of the Department of Justice since the committee reviewed the business plan in September.
The committee noted expenditures of $83.800 million for operations expense and $4.029 million to be spent on capital projects.
Committee members offer the following comments on issues arising out of the review of the 2006-2007 Draft Main Estimates and budget planning cycle.
Pre-Budget Consultations
As we referred to it a moment ago, Mr. Chairman, under pre-budget consultations committee members took note of the following issues that were mentioned in a majority of the communities we visited: more support for local justice committees; resources for on-the-land programs for people who have committed less serious crimes, especially youth at risk and young offenders; the need for offenders to reconnect with traditional values; the need for training and education for offenders to make them more employable; and increased RCMP resources in smaller communities. These issues will be commented on by my colleagues and I will turn the next chapter of the report over to Mr. McLeod. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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community Justice Committees
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Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes
Thank you, Mr. Chair. During the pre-budget consultations in the communities we heard that more funding should be directed to the local justice committees.
During the business plan review in September, the Standing Committee on Social Programs was concerned that funding to community justice committees was not keeping pace with their increased workload. The standing committee recommended $50,000 in base funding for each justice committee.
Currently the Department of Justice is reviewing how they can revitalize community justice committees. One area they are looking at is their funding structure. The standing committee will be looking forward to reviewing the 2007-2010 Business Plans and seeing increased funding for community justice committees and programs.
Policing In Smaller Communities
The Standing Committee on Social Programs is concerned over the $200,000 reduction in the Police Services Agreement. During the last budget session, the committee supported the increase of $1.489 million to the Police Services Agreement. Now part of the increase the committee supported last year is being removed as part of a budget-cutting exercise.
During the business plan review in September, the committee supported the Minister making it a priority to increase police presence in communities without detachments. The Minister of Justice has since informed the committee that a joint RCMP/department strategic planning group has been formed, and one of their first priorities is to increase the police presence in smaller communities.
The committee is concerned that the proposed $200,000 reduction in the overall Police Services Agreement may make it difficult for the RCMP to increase police presence in communities where there is already minimal police presence, such as Sachs Harbour and Colville Lake.
The committee finds it difficult to see how the enhancement of police service through more frequent patrols, longer stays, and the support of crime prevention initiatives can be accomplished, when the department is proposing a $200,000 reduction. As a result, the committee does not support this reduction. At this time, Mr. Chair, I would like to pass it on to Mr. Lafferty from Monfwi.
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community Justice Committees
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Jackson Lafferty North Slave
RCMP Orientation Program
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. During the business plan review in September, the committee was concerned that some RCMP officers have not been able to integrate well into the community where they have been stationed.
The committee is interested to see progress of the RCMP Orientation Program and will be provided with information on the new RCMP Orientation Program from the Minister of Justice as it becomes available.
Family Law And Legal Aid Files
During the business plan review, the committee had concerns regarding lawyers not taking on family law or legal aid cases in the NWT. In general, there are difficulties in attracting lawyers to the NWT, and attracting lawyers to take on family law matters is of particular concern. The Minister's staff explained that making mediation a prerequisite before using the court system is one alternative to decrease the backlog of family law cases.
Since the business plan review in September, the department has started a pilot Family Law Mediation Program in Yellowknife and Hay River that will run until the end of this fiscal year.
The committee will be provided with information from that pilot project when available.
The committee is also very interested to see possible initiatives to recruit more lawyers to the NWT in the 2007-2010 Business Plans. At this time, Chair, I would like to turn it over to Mr. Pokiak to talk about the wilderness camps.
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wilderness Camps
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Calvin Pokiak Nunakput
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee was concerned about the substantial reduction of $425,000 to youth wilderness camp funding.
The justification given by the department for the cut is the lack of youth receiving custodial sentences, and, as a result, there has been minimal use of the Youth Wilderness Camp Program. The committee is concerned that once this funding is cut out of the program, it will be difficult to reinstate this funding.
The committee is also concerned that minimal use of the Youth Wilderness Camp Program is a result of poor program delivery and/or design. The committee understands the potential benefits of the Youth Wilderness Camp Program and recommends that a program redesign may prove better than cutting out $425,000 from the program.
The committee would like to see the department develop new models for the Youth Wilderness Camp Program similar to the review the department is currently completing on the Wilderness Camp Program for adult offenders and provide committee an opportunity for input.
Outdoor Recreation Area For North Slave Correctional Centre
During the business plan reviews in September, the committee was left with the impression that the outdoor recreation area was going to be built as an arena.
However, the department has clarified that it "has no intention to build a new arena for the North Slave Correctional Centre." Rather, "the Department has proposed an outdoor recreation area in the capital plan to provide a fenced area for inmate outdoor activity and programs such as healing circles, similar to the grounds of the old Yellowknife Correctional Centre."
It should be noted that there was an outdoor arena on the grounds of the old Yellowknife Correctional Centre. Given the close proximity of the North Slave Correctional Centre to the new Yellowknife Multiplex arena, the committee is concerned that an outdoor arena may not be the best use of government funding That concludes the discussion on the Department of Justice, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
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The Chair David Ramsay
Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Thanks to the Social Programs committee for providing their comments. I would like to now go to Mr. Villeneuve.
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The Chair David Ramsay
Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. There is a motion to report progress. The motion is not debatable. To the motion. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.
---Carried
I will rise and report progress. Thank you, committee.
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