Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister Lafferty.

We do not have any layoffs in legal aid services. Mahsi.

Maybe the Minister could help me out. Can he point out what areas layoffs did take place? I know in my riding, for instance, I think it was on the probation side and how a probation officer was suddenly…and also I believe in the Nunakput riding, there were layoffs there too.

Mr. Chairman, I believe that the Member is referring to the court workers that they were part of the layoff notice last year, but they have been reinstated. There are no layoffs in the legal aid services. Mahsi.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. We are on page 9-20, information item, legal aid services, active positions.

We are moving along to 9-23, court services, activity summary, operations expenditure summary, $10.638 million.

Next on the list is 9-24. This is an information item. Court services, active positions. Mr. Krutko.

Maybe I am asking the same question on every page. If the Minister would give us a breakdown of the Department of Justice staff complement and give us a breakdown on affirmative action in the different service areas you provide, so we could see exactly how many affirmative action candidates actually work in the Department of Justice in the different areas. The same thing applies to people with disabilities.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Certainly this has been addressed on a number of occasions and we’ll certainly provide that next year as well. Certainly we will provide that detailed information to the Members. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Page 9-24, information item, court services, active positions.

Moving along to 9-27, community justice and corrections, activity summary, operations expenditure summary, $33.270 million. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a question with regard to the Role Model Program which I think is $100,000, which I believe is an initiative in this next budget year. I think it’s under community justice. I wanted to know whether or not the Minister could advise how this program is going to work. Who is being targeted and what sorts of activities will be put into place with this particular program? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this has been brought to our attention from visiting communities and part of the goal is to help youth understand the seriousness of personal

health and life consequences that come with addiction and related criminal activities. One of the goals that we’re talking about is having individuals that have been through the system, whether it be a stabbing, or shot at, or served time, to tell their story as well. That’s just an example of what people have been through; the consequences of their career paths. Not only that, but introducing the role models of the North. So those are the areas; focussing on the right choices within the schools and also the communities. That is the area we will be dealing with drug and alcohol addiction and other conflicts with the law. We will be speaking to the youth in the communities. Mahsi.

Thank you for the explanation. I guess I would like to know whether or not this program is going to be coordinated with other departments. Education has been mentioned, sort of drug and alcohol addictions, so I am presuming Health and Social Services is probably involved here. Is this a program that is going to be done in conjunction with these other departments or is it something that is going to be running concurrently? And if that’s the case, I worry about the lack of coordination. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, certainly it will be coordinated through various departments, as the Member alluded to, as part of the GNWT Healthy Choices Framework as well, and working with the social envelope Ministers because it will deal with Health and Social Services, Justice, Education. So we are going to have a coordinated effort to go into the communities. At the same time, Mr. Chair, we need to work closely with the community organizations, whether it be the leadership or organizations at the community level. So we will continue to make those partnerships at the communities. Mahsi.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. We are on page 9-27, community justice and corrections, activity summary, operations expenditure summary, $33 million. Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Chair, there are two points I want to raise here. First is when we had the briefing with the Minister of Justice a couple of days ago and the Minister was questioned and we did have some questions around the Arctic Tern facility and the amount of money that was being spent on the facility with the amount of staff and the amount of people in that facility. When it goes right into the efficiency of this government, it flies right in the face of efficiency in terms of what not to do and how not to spend dollars in a facility like this. I was happy to hear the Minister was going to look at options for this facility. I want to ask the Minister about the amount of dollars that he stated. How much does it cost to operate that facility and the amount of staff members who are there and the amount of people

who are in facility? What are we doing with some of the needs that the communities are asking for, such as having RCMP present? The Minister is dipsy-doodling around how he is going to increase RCMP presence in our communities with added patrols or added resources, while a facility like this is certainly underutilized for what it is supposed to be there for. How do we rectify this or correct this? Do we continue spending millions of dollars on a facility that is underutilized?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Arctic Tern facility has been under review along with other correction institutions for female offenders. So we’ve also received from Public Works the report on the foundation, the status on the foundation; a very detailed, technical report. So right now we are going through that as a department. We will have the final report in April, from our department’s perspective. In order to operate the facility in Inuvik, it costs approximately $2 million a year to staff that facility with 14.5 staff. At times, offenders we have in place varies. January 21st , there were four offenders in custody.

So it does vary. The number I am sure has changed today. So that is the information we have to date. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.