Mr. Chairman, it doesn't come as any surprise to the local bar that we have a backload of cases in family law. The Legal Services Board does meet with the bar frequently to talk about this and to talk about strategies for dealing with this backlog. It is that type of discussion that leads to the discussion from the bar to Legal Services Board is that one way to deal with this is to raise the tariff. That's why that is under consideration at this point. You have some lawyers who are well established in town, very busy in their practices and have decided that they don't want to practice family law, have decided that they don't want to take on legal aid cases. I would suggest that probably to a person they know we have a challenge because it's a challenge right across the country. It's not unique to the Northwest Territories. We have a challenge in meeting the need for legal aid cases. The federal Ministers are very well aware of this.

One point I would make is, I think in the Northwest Territories and in the other territories we have done a good job in getting our special circumstances recognized and we do get some funding for legal aid for civil law matters. That's not the case for the rest of the provinces. We do have a separate deal. We get separate treatment from the provinces who would all like to be treated similarly to us, I would suggest. I think we've done a good job as a department in bringing forward our interests and in advocating that the North has special challenges and circumstances. We will continue to do that at the federal level. I know the Legal Services Board and our department will continue to work with the bar, to see if we can't get more lawyers interested in practicing family law and dealing with our legal aid caseload. One approach will be the tariffs. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.