Once again, I would be pleased to follow up on the issue and what’s actually happened is it’s often the same people who are making these trips, Mr. Speaker. In fact, I think medical staff are finding it hard to send the elders

when they have nobody stepping up to the plate, no escort. So this is an issue that I would like to ask the Minister to develop a strategy around and if there is a per diem rate, either from medical travel and/or if she can check with NIHB with regard to that. Thank you.

I will undertake to look at the details of that and get back to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The time for question period has expired. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. Item 15, notices of motion. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Tabled Document 7-16(3), Ministerial Benefits Policy; Committee Report 2-16(3), Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures Report on Matters Referred to the Committee; Committee Report 3-16(3), Report on the Use of Laptop Computers and Blackberry Devices in the Legislative Assembly; Tabled Document 11-16(3), NWT Main Estimates 2009-2010; Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Historical Resources Act; Bill 3, International Interest in Mobile Aircraft Equipment Act; Bill 4, Public Library Act; Bill 5, Professional Corporations Act; and Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act. By the authority given me as Speaker by Motion 10-16(3), I hereby authorize the House to sit beyond the daily hour of adjournment to consider the business before the House, with Mr. Abernethy in the chair.

I’ll call Committee of the Whole to order. We are looking at Tabled Document 7-16(3), Committee Report 2-16(3), Committee Report 3-16(3), Tabled Document 11-16(3), Bills 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7. What is the wish of the committee? Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee today wishes to go to the Department of Justice and, time permitting, the NWT Housing Corporation budget in that order. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. We’ll commence with the

Department of Justice after we take a short break. Thank you very much.

I’d like to call Committee of the Whole back to order.

Committee, we’ve agreed to consider Tabled Document 11-16(3), NWT Main Estimates 2009-2010. Committee has also agreed to review the Department of Justice. I would like to ask the Minister of Justice, the Honourable Jackson Lafferty, if he would like to provide some opening comments at this time.

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Minister.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am pleased to present the Department of Justice’s main estimates for the fiscal year 2009-2010.

The main estimates propose an operations and maintenance budget of $93.488 million, an increase of 3 percent over the 2008-2009 main estimates. This consists primarily of forced growth and strategic initiatives in policing, family violence and community justice.

The justice system is experiencing similar socio-economic pressures felt elsewhere in the GNWT. Our costs are rising and we must respond to a crime rate that is seven times the national average.

Our services and supports must respond to these pressures and ultimately to the needs of the residents of the Northwest Territories. In a time where there aren’t a lot of resources, it is vital that we not simply react to these pressures. We must make changes that meet the needs of the people that are also fiscally responsible. We need to provide a corrections system that rehabilitates offenders. We have to support victims and provide a justice system that responds to the needs of our most vulnerable citizens. We must ensure there are appropriate policing services in all of our communities

During 2009-2010, we plan to make financial investments in priority areas: policing, family violence, community justice and maintaining service levels in all programs.

I’d like to briefly outline the budget of this department. There are six areas of activity in our main estimates.

Services To Government

The department provides a range of legal services to the government. This work is almost always done in-house at a significantly lower cost than contracting private lawyers. Our staff lawyers draft legislation and provide legal advice to all Ministers, departments and many public agencies. Legal translators prepare the French versions of bills and regulations, as well as public materials with legal considerations. The $8.9 million budgeted for services to government also includes work like providing financial services, improving supports to families in conflict, and the policy research required to develop new legislation.

Law Enforcement

Just over $31 million has been budgeted for law-enforcement activities contracted to the RCMP. This Assembly has indicated that policing is a priority, especially policing in smaller communities. I was proud to be a part of the official reopening of the detachment in Sachs Harbour this past summer. In the coming years, we will open new detachments in Wrigley and Gamètì. The hiring is almost done, and we are now just waiting for the federal government to put the infrastructure in place.

The main estimates include $675,000 in strategic investment and $1.7 million in forced growth funding to the RCMP. This includes funding for salary and pension increases, additional public servant positions, additional positions for the operations and communication centre, another dog unit to help the new federal officers who will work full time on drug interception all over our Territory, especially the transportation networks like our highways and airports. It also includes three new officers to improve service to the smaller communities. Although we cannot afford to put detachments in all communities, we can take steps to increase police presence. This can be done by increasing the number of officers in our existing detachments which, in turn, allows the RCMP to do more patrols.

Legal Aid Services

The Legal Services Board’s budget is approximately $5 million. That covers the NWT’s share of the costs of operating three legal aid clinics in Yellowknife and Inuvik that provide legal services to NWT residents who cannot afford a lawyer. The board also provides court worker and public legal education programs. These programs are available to all residents, regardless of their income.

Courts

The department provides funding and administrative support to the NWT courts. The total budget of approximately $10.6 million covers the Justice of the Peace Court Program, Territorial Court, the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, court libraries and reporters, and the three court registries. The 2009-2010 main estimates includes a reduction in funding for the court library; however, it is important to note that we will continue to provide the same services in a smaller, more efficient space.

Community Justice And Corrections

The proposed main estimates include additional reductions in this area through increased efficiency in our larger facilities. It is one of the few areas of the Justice budget with discretionary spending. This government is required to provide facilities to house adult and youth territorial offenders. However, the way we provide custody and programming has some flexibility. We will continue to provide the full range of programming with greater efficiency by reviewing the way these services are delivered.

In total, $33.2 million has been budgeted for adult and young offender facilities, probation, wilderness camps, and cultural programs to support the rehabilitation of offenders. Our correctional facilities provide targeted programming to help offenders with the issues that originally contributed to their crimes. Our goal is to rehabilitate and release offenders to their communities with the supports they need to become law-abiding, productive members of society. This budget also funds victim services, crime prevention and diversion programs in communities, and includes additional funding for the creation and implementation of a strategy to reduce alcohol and drug related crime.

Services To The Public

The $3.9 million budgeted for services to the public includes funding for the coroner’s office, the public trustee, the rental office, legal registries and the Maintenance Enforcement Program.

In 2009-2010, the department is projecting a 4 percent increase in revenue in this area. This is related to projected increases in land titles and legal registries revenue collection.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide an overview of the department’s 2009-2010 main estimates. I look forward to discussing it with you in more detail. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Would you like to bring witnesses into the House?

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.

Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. Sergeant-at-Arms, can you please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.

Thank you. Minister Lafferty, can I get you to please introduce your witnesses?

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I have with me, to my left, Bronwyn Watters, deputy minister of Justice; and, to my right, Kim Schofield, director of finance. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Before opening the floor to general comments, is committee agreed that we have all Members do their comments before we go to the Minister for his response? Agreed?

Thank you. I will now open the floor to general comments on the Department of Justice. Anyone? Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Minister Lafferty for your opening comments on your department. I wanted to make some brief points here in your presentation and certainly we’ll be looking for more information once we get to the detail of the budget here.

I know that for any of the other departments, we’re always underfunded for some of the needs in our small communities. So it’s no surprise that I am going to make mention of the policing services in Colville Lake. Many other communities don’t have an RCMP station in their communities and Colville Lake has continued over the years requesting a detachment to be established there. I certainly want to say I support Gameti and Wrigley and it’s been noted at the last Assembly that the then-Minister of Justice indicated to me that Colville Lake would be the next area they look at in terms of having an RCMP detachment there. I look forward to working with this Minister and this department to see if the day will come when Colville Lake will have a permanent RCMP presence in their community. How we go about that will be up to you and your department to figure out in terms of where and how funding can be directed to that issue.

Again, those are the issues I’ll be hitting on this Minister about to seek more presence of the RCMP in Colville Lake. The Minister is under a lot of pressure because there are other communities that

will be asking for the same thing, but I look forward to this Minister’s leadership to see where we can see an increase in RCMP presence in Colville Lake. Hopefully one day he can announce in the House that Colville Lake will be getting an RCMP station. I’m looking forward to that.

The other issue I’ll be asking the Minister to do with the support of our community justice committees isin our small communities, where they are tasked with an enormous amount of work to work with the communities; work within the legal system; work with the aboriginal justice areas; and they are given a lot of responsibilities. At the same time we need to back up our efforts and initiatives for these types of programs in our communities with some good resources and solid commitment in terms of funding, training, and just all around justice committee development in terms of how we can better our communities by establishing a strong justice committee. I’m going to look for the Minister’s direction in terms of how to implement the aboriginal justice system into the community. I’ll be asking the Minister some questions on that and how they’re working with the federal government to implement some of the aboriginal justice initiatives. I know the Minister is going to make some announcements as to his discussions with Cabinet and the federal government.

In closing, regarding the operations of various initiatives Justice has undertaken and reviewed, I will be asking the Minister about the Arctic Tern Facility in Inuvik with the number of dollars that we’re contributing to that facility, with the amount of people in that facility, with the ratio of staff to the number of people going through the facility and the amount of dollars we’re spending on that facility. I’m going to ask the Minister, when we get into details, about more specifics on that facility and plans for that facility. In the words of government, we’re looking for efficiencies and effectiveness. What my understanding is at this time -- and I stand to be corrected by the Minister and his department -- in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, I think this one here really needs to be re-evaluated and looked at in terms of what to do with this type of facility with the type of programming it has and with this amount of money. If that’s the way it’s going to be, then I can see reasons why we don’t have some policing in some communities. A lot of money is going to facilities that need to be looked at again. Because it involves people and human beings, it’s very sensitive and difficult at times because you’re talking about people’s lives. That’s the balance.

I’m looking to the Minister in terms of leadership from this Cabinet on how to make choices. Communities without RCMP, facilities that are run not very efficiently. Those are tough choices and decisions that need to be made. I look forward to the Minister’s leadership and direction as to who we

serve. It’s very hard for all of us as Assembly Members to get the best for our people, when you have a number of communities without RCMP members, whole communities, it’s not very hard to give the logical decision where the money should be spent.

Those are some of the things that I’m going to bring up with this department through the detailed items on the budget. I look forward to the Minister’s discussions with the federal government regarding national initiatives that could support our communities in terms of justice. I look forward to some creative opportunities where the Minister and his department can see the benefit of going outside the box, so to speak. I know the Minister has done that in terms of the wilderness camp in my region, for which I want to congratulate him because it’s a very successful program. The department has done a lot of hard work and persistence and encouragement and tweaking of the wilderness program and trying to fit it within the system. Sometimes the system doesn’t want to participate, so we have to look at other ways where we can make it work. It’s been very successful, so I want to give kudos to the department for staying the course, staying with the vision of the people, to the Sahtu specifically, to the people in Fort Good Hope, to make this program work. In that type of commitment and desire, we could see things work. It requires a lot of work. This system has been in the Northwest Territories for some time. However, our people have been in the Territories longer than that. When we try something new I think we need to wholeheartedly look at how it evolves over time. I want to let the Minister know, in front of the House and his staff, that I certainly appreciate the patience and cooperation for a wilderness camp like this in the region in the hope that they will continue with this type of funding.

Those are my general comments. I will be back with more when we get into the detail.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just in regard to the Minister’s opening remarks, I’d like to thank him and his department and the government for re-opening the detachment this past summer in Sachs Harbour. I was there about three weeks ago and I didn’t get a chance to see the members, but I asked the SAO how they’re doing in the community. It’s a good fit. Everything is going well. So thank you again to your department, Mr. Lafferty, and staff.

Just another thing in regard to the legal aid services, how important it is to have our court workers and the legal aid education programs that are being put on by the department. It’s a very

important role in the smaller communities where there’s no access to any lawyers or anything until they come in prior to court day. The young offenders’ facility, Arctic Tern, per se, it’s good to see that we’re going to keep it open. A lot of people rely on that and they’re doing a good job in Inuvik.

The budget also funds the Victim Services and crime prevention and diversification programs in communities. It’s good to see that we’re heading that way to try to prevent instead of always having to maintain. That’s all I have to say right now. I look forward to going page by page with the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. Next on the list is Mrs. Groenewegen.