Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Maybe I will just give this a shot. There is a negative on the Transportation for the construction of the new air terminal building in Tuktoyaktuk, there is a negative $300,000 under Public Works and Services, and then if you go to page 9, the page we are on, it shows up as transferred from the Department of Public Works and Services, $300,000. We agree with that, but then what Mr. Kalgutkar is saying is something about the bypass road having impacted that. I think that was the confusion. Thank you.

Minister McLeod would like to shed light on this. Thank you.

Thank you. I would like to call on Minister Michael McLeod.

Mr. Chairman, what we are doing here is we are transferring some dollars out of the Public Works Deferred Maintenance Program that we had identified to do some work on the air terminal building and it will now go into the Department of Transportation and will be matched up with stimulus dollars that we have been approved for. So it is a 50-50 cost arrangement and since we had money already in our budget to do the work prior to knowing that this was a project that was being considered for replacement, we are transferring it over. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. That satisfies you, Mr. Beaulieu?

Yes.

Thank you. Committee, we are on page 9, Transportation, capital investment expenditures, airports, not previously authorized, $300,000.

Highways, not previously authorized, $1.5 million.

Total department, not previously authorized, $1.8 million.

Page 10, Industry, Tourism and Investment, capital investment expenditures, tourism and parks, not previously authorized, negative $50,000.

Total department, not previously authorized, negative $50,000.

Thank you, committee. Does committee agree that this concludes 2009-2010 Supplementary Appropriation No. 4?

Thank you, committee. Thank you, Minister. You may excuse your witnesses. I will ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witnesses from the House. Committee will take a break for a meal.

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Welcome back, committee. I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. We will start our review of the Department of Justice, as per our earlier agreement. I’d like to call on the Minister of Justice. Do you have opening remarks, Mr. Lafferty?

I am pleased to present the Department of Justice main estimates for the fiscal year 2010-2011.

The main estimates propose an operations and maintenance budget of $97.992 million, an increase of 5 percent over the 2009-2010 Main Estimates. This consists primarily of forced growth increases such as collective bargaining and strategic initiatives in policing, services for families and community justice.

This department’s mandate is to administer justice, including corrections and policing in the Northwest Territories. We support the Assembly’s vision of strong individuals, families and communities sharing the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally sustainable and prosperous Northwest Territories. We do this by providing services directly to the public, by ensuring the Government of the Northwest Territories receives appropriate legal support, and by providing a strong justice system that is responsive to the needs of our people and is independent of government.

Mr. Chair, we support strong individuals by providing one-on-one services through our Community Justice Program, victim services, legal aid, programs for offenders, and a wide variety of public offices that provide specialized services like enforcing child support orders. We also provide funding for our court system, which protects the rights of all of our residents, and for the RCMP.

We support strong families through increased supports to families. The main estimates include funding for a new legal aid clinic to provide enhanced family law services, training for community court workers, and the new program for men who abuse family members.

We support strong communities through a network of services that promote local control and access to justice. The main estimates include $1.8 million in increases to the RCMP budget to improve services to communities. We also fund community justice programs in all communities, and our new campaign to reduce drug and alcohol-related crime gives control to local agencies. Our corrections system focuses on rehabilitating offenders and reintegrating them into their communities. And our court system brings justice to the people by travelling to communities on court circuits.

Mr. Chair, our focus in on meeting the needs of our residents. 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 2010-11, we will invest new funding into priority areas: policing, supports for families, and community justice. Our department’s main estimates have six areas of activity:

Services to Government

Although this is less visible than much of our other work, the department provides a range of legal services to the government. This is almost always done in house at a significantly lower cost than contracting private lawyers. We’re providing legal support as the Government of the Northwest Territories works toward a common vision for the political development of the North. We prosecute people who break territorial laws. We represent the Government of the Northwest Territories in court. We draft legislation and provide legal advice to all Ministers, departments and many public agencies. The French versions of bills and regulations are prepared by legal translators on our staff. Our lawyers are helping to build strong partnerships with northern governments on areas of common interest, fulfill our implementation responsibilities for existing land claim and self-government agreements, and make best efforts to reach final agreements in ongoing negotiations.

The $9.622 million budgeted for services to government also includes work like providing departmental financial services and the policy research required to develop new legislation. Two pilot programs for families are part of this activity: a mediation program for separating parents and an education program on parenting after separation and divorce to help parents gain the skills they need to be parents in changed circumstances.

Law Enforcement

There has been $33.586 million budgeted for law enforcement activities contracted by the RCMP. Policing is a priority for this government, especially policing in smaller communities.

The RCMP are key to our goal of sustainable, vibrant, safe communities. The main estimates include $1.8 million in new funding for the RCMP. This includes funding for salary and pension increases, additional public servant positions, additional positions for the operations and communication centre, and new policing positions. We are adding one member to each of three of our current three-member detachments. We will also be increasing the relief unit by three members from the current six members in the unit. This will provide backup and enhanced service to our smaller communities. We recognize the public safety concerns of our residents. We cannot afford to put detachments in all communities, Mr. Chair, but we can increase police presence by increasing the number of officers in our existing detachments. This allows the RCMP to do enhanced patrols on a regular basis.

Legal Aid Services

The Legal Services Board’s budget is $5.642 million. That covers the Northwest Territories share of the costs of operating three legal aid clinics in

Yellowknife and Inuvik that provide legal services to Northwest Territories residents who cannot afford a lawyer. It also covers the cost of opening a new clinic to provide faster service to clients. As well, legal aid provides court workers and public legal education programs to all residents, regardless of their incomes. Legal Aid is an effective, efficient program with a client-focused, service-oriented approach. They protect the rights of northern residents and promote personal and family responsibility.

Courts

The department provides funding and administrative support to the NWT courts. The total budget is just over $11 million and 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 main estimates include a $25,000 increase for territorial court judges’ salaries, as directed by the 2008 Judicial Remuneration Commission. The courts are the third arm of government. They protect the most vulnerable members of our society.

Community Justice and Corrections

Our corrections service provides adult and young offender facilities, probation, wilderness camps, and cultural programs to support the rehabilitation of offenders. We provide targeted programming to help offenders with the issues that originally contributed to their crimes. The goal is to rehabilitate offenders and then release them to their communities with the supports they need to become productive, law-abiding members of society. This program activity has a focus on prevention by promoting healthy choices and lifestyles, and the role of personal and family responsibility. Our work to strengthen the role of communities in prevention and enforcement is part of this activity. We also fund victim services, crime prevention and diversion programs in communities, and our new campaign to reduce alcohol and drug-related crime. In all, the budget is $33.733 million.

Services to the Public

We provide a number of specialty services directly to the public. The $4.3 million budget includes coroners’ services, the rental office, public trustee, legal registries and the Maintenance Enforcement Program. These programs operate under statute and are very similar to those operated in all other provinces and territories.

The main estimates project $11.371 million in revenue during the next fiscal year. This is mostly from transfer payments and from the collection of fees at our public offices like the legal registry.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide an overview of the department’s 2010-2011 Main

Estimates. I look forward to discussing it with you in more detail. Mahsi.

Thank you, Minister. Does the Minister wish to bring witnesses into the House?

Yes, Mr. Chair.