Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of the NWT Housing Corporation. Hay River was happy to learn of an allocation quite some time ago for $1.8 million to build 12 seniors' units in Hay River, six duplexes. It's been a bit of a convoluted trail to get to these units, but some time in November 2005, seniors were expecting to be able to move into these units. It's now the end of February. There's been postponements and delays on a fairly consistent basis. There are seniors who are living in temporary accommodation right now, waiting to move into these units. I'd like to ask the Minister for an update on when these units are going to be ready for seniors to move into them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of the Housing Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we were hoping to have them completed at the end of this month, but it looks like it's a little behind schedule, so we're hoping to have them opened here shortly. But the dates I had is they were supposed to be open February 28th. Again, we're probably looking at another couple weeks, but I will get that information back to the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm fairly familiar with the initial delays. There was a change in contractor at some point, but since the second set of contracts were awarded until now, can the Minister just tell us briefly what would be the nature of the problems that were encountered that would have resulted in another six-month delay? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we did run into some problems with the project earlier on in regard to doing inspections, and finally the work wasn't done enough to par that we had to go back and basically cancel the contract, bring another contractor in to complete the work, and that's why we're a little bit behind schedule. Again, we're hoping to have the units completed. The information I had it was supposed to be completed by the 28th of February, but if it's not, I will check and get the information back to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Housing Corporation and the LHO have a fairly good idea at this point in time who the 12 candidates are who are moving into these units. Are they taking and making efforts to communicate with them while they're in this period? Some of them are in limbo, out of their own homes, kind of camping from friend to friend and neighbour to neighbour. Will the Minister commit that the local housing authority or the Housing Corporation will be in contact with those individuals to keep them apprised of what's going on and perhaps even offer them some assistance in the interim? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Just to follow up on my Member's statement last week. I just wanted to ask the Minister of Justice a quick question on the review that the justice committee was going to be conducting for justice committees and the allocation of funding across the NWT. I just want to ask the Justice Minister, what is the status of this review today? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The review is underway and I'm expecting that in the next couple of months we'll be able to come forward and talk about our findings. We have a lot of data, some of which I believe we've shared with the Member. We can talk a lot about the various different communities and the meetings that they're having, the work that they're doing; talk about whether or not they have a full or a part-time coordinator. So we've done quite a bit of research into this, but I think we have to make some conclusions and arrive at some conclusions as to why some committees are more successful than others. We are funding them in a number of ways. There's some special project funding available for those communities that want to take on additional activities because diversion is what I think we tend to think of, but there are also aftercare initiatives and prevention of crime initiatives. So there are a number of different ways these committees can access money, but we'll know more in the next couple of months. I should also add that much of the work that we're doing was driven by the motion in the House that the Member put forward, I think it's almost a year ago now, and appreciate his support and his advocacy in this area. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I just want to ask the Minister, when this review does roll out, is there going to be anything in next year's business plan that's going to be taking a lot of recommendations, I guess their own department recommendations, into how they can reallocate some of that money and assure that the communities that are really actively and fully participating in the justice committee work are getting the support mechanisms and the financial arrangements in place that allow them to keep building on that capacity at the community level? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Bell.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. As I've indicated, we have a base level of funding for all communities. I think it's $20,000 available to every community, but some communities have levered additional federal money, and also others have applied for special project funding and been successful. I know that two of the communities the Member is responsible for have accessed some special project funding, but I think we're going to have a look at adequacy and look at how our funding is targeted. We do want to make sure that those who are working hard and pushing forward a number of initiatives have the resources they need. But, having said that, I don't want to diminish that base level of support for all communities. We're trying to encourage those who haven't been as active to get more active, because we think that this is a vital part of our programming. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I guess just one point. Some communities with small populations, like Kakisa for example, the crime rate is very low; very minimal. But they get the same amount of base funding as one of my communities where we have high youth crime rates, and justice committees are really busy and they do a lot of really good work in the community to address the community justice initiatives and carry out the program. It's a very successful program, mind you, Mr. Speaker, but the fact remains that the justice coordinators are severely overworked and the committees are severely overbooked and under funded. I just don't think it's up to the justice committee, justice coordinators, to scramble and find additional funding from the federal government or anything. I think it should be on the Justice department to assist them to find that extra funding. Give them the ideas of where they can get that money. Is there any avenue for that kind of support mechanism, just information sharing-wise? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, there is, and I think Members know that even the federal money that is flowed to five of the communities in the North who have accessed that comes through our department. I know we've done quite a bit of work in ensuring that money was accessible and available. Mr. Speaker, let me say that I don't think the answer is to look at what I consider a relatively low level of base support for all communities when I talk about $20,000. To look at that money and talk about reducing that for some communities that aren't very active, I think we want to encourage them to be more active and I don't think $20,000 is, on the whole, a lot of money. But I think what we need to do is look at adequacy, look at the level of activity in some of our more active committees, and ensure that we are there to help them access more funds, because I think that will be the

answer. I await the conclusions, look forward to working with the committee, and again thank the Member for his work in this area. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.