Thank you, Madam Chair. I thank the Minister and Mr. Cooper and Ms. Schofield for coming out here today. I just have a couple questions on the opening comments with respect to legal aid services. I know that it's one of the, especially family legal aid services is really one of those really complicated legal services, I guess, that I think a lot of legal aid lawyers just don't even want to look at. I know a lot of them, a lot of people have been calling me and asking me why their family legal aid cases have been outstanding for quite a number of years and I really hope that with some new clinics and more resources put toward legal aid services we can try to alleviate the workload on that front because I feel that there is, I'm not a lawyer but just from hearing what people are telling me, that they're having to deal with, as far as going through legal aid and getting legal aid for family issues, is really something that is a real uphill battle for them and it really causes them a lot of stress, a lot of worry, especially if it takes years and years for them to get any type of legal aid or get their case heard in the court. So I hope that maybe this government can help alleviate some of those strains that we have on our justice system and our legal aid services.
Just with community justice I'm glad to see that there is continued funding going into community justice committees and a little more funding for community justice coordinators, but I think when community justice starts working for communities we seem to cut back on the funding. You know, there's no guarantee it's going to carry on from one year to the next. I think that when they're doing funding allocations, especially for community justice committees and community justice coordinators, that they really should look at how many cases they handle, and I'm sure they do, probably. However, just with maybe the success rate of what they're doing every year to ensure that, yes, they do have good working relationships with other community members, with the court systems and with the enforcement personnel in the community, I think we have to build on that as we move forward here with the community justice work.
Just on the on-the-land programs, I know this has been a real tough one for justice, too, especially on the accountability issue just to...How do we monitor these on-the-land programs? I know we don't have RCMP or security services or any judges or lawyers going out to any of these camps and seeing how they're doing and asking these camp workers how it's working for them and how the government is reacting to their requests for either more funding, continued funding or just more professional development, I guess, in training and stuff to help their people that are out there to help. I like to see more monitoring mechanisms, I guess, in place for on-the-land programs and a closer working relationship with justice workers and RCMP in ensuring that, yes, they are doing what they're supposed to be doing and not just taking people out on the land to let them run around at their own whim and collect money off the government for not incurring any real expense on their part and making it more like a money-making business venture more than a rehab initiative.
Those are basically the only two issues that really jumped out at me on the opening comments. I'm glad to see that there are more dollars going into community justice. I don't want to see them going into jails and courthouses, but I think at the community level we really have to raise awareness that communities can take hold of their own justice systems and work with their own people that they know best and try to keep the court system out of the picture as much as we can. With that, I'm glad to be
going through the detail here with the Minister. Thank you, Madam Chair.