Thank you, Mr. Chair. Today I am here in strong support of the court worker positions in the communities. I believe these positions are an asset to the community and to the people they serve. It’s a vital link between the court parties coming into the communities and the people of the communities they are working in.
I got a letter from the Sevoliq Justice Committee in my community of Tuk that strongly recommends we keep these positions.
The bottom line: for the $91,000, this government…. For the cost of that, it’s unacceptable. They say these ladies are underutilized. I don’t think so. You have the court worker in my home community. She flies all over Beaufort-Delta assisting in court parties when people are on holidays and stuff. She does a really good job, and she’s good at what she does.
For the court party arriving into the community, the court staff say the court party will assist the locals, but there’s no trust there. We say we want to help our people. We’re not helping them. We’re going to be filling up the corrections facility here so fast, without these positions.
I really feel this should be re-looked at. The positions should be kept. Like I said, it’s like a make-work project. These positions — it’s easy to say we’ll cut them, but the bottom line is we’re going to be filling up the jail, the corrections facility here, so fast. Then we’re going to want to hire these positions back, probably next year.
We’re here to serve our people, even though we…. Democracy shouldn’t be calling the shots in regard to these positions. These positions in the Beaufort-
Delta, Yellowknife — there are two in Yellowknife and two in the Beaufort-Delta — are needed.
I really believe I’m here to make a difference, just like their positions in the communities: they’re there to help the people. There’s no trust link between the court parties and the local people.
I strongly recommend that we keep these positions and, Mr. Lafferty, that we can’t fail our people. I just want to say that.