Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I didn’t mean to suggest anything. I wouldn’t believe that. I know it’s not true. Absolutely, we will keep the Members posted on the types of individuals who are coming and providing these types of services and the types of skills they bring.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Bromley, anything further? Okay. Thank you. I have no one else on my list. We are on page 9-19, Justice, activity summary, legal aid services, operations expenditure summary, $5.905 million.

Page 9-20, Justice, activity summary, information item, legal aid services, active positions.

Page 9-23, Justice, activity summary, court services, operations expenditure summary, $11.446 million. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess quickly, would this be where specialized courts would be housed? I guess, just by way of working up gradually and changing the subject, the compensation for judges is an exercise that, I think, we’ve been going through at arm’s length and whatnot. Have some decisions been made? Has that been reported? Is that all done and being implemented and are the results public? Is that something we can hear about? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The process is independent. We don’t actually get to decide on it. It’s decided for us. I tabled the report, I think, in the first week of this particular sitting and it’s done and official. I can’t remember the exact totals. I think it was a $6,000 increase in year one and CPI for three.

That’s good. I’ll look that report up. Thank you to the Minister.

Just moving on to the specialized courts here, I know the Minister and staff are very curious and intent on learning more about the potential here by way of prevention and that it’s seen as a real interest because of the crime bill and so on. I’m just wondering if we can really hear where the Minister is at in that process. I know other departments, have I heard ECE, Executive, no, Health and Social Services might be involved in these things too, and I want to know how that process is going generally. Thank you.

I did speak to this in the House the other day and gave some of the deadlines that we’re now faced with. This is a cooperative project between the Department of

Health and Social Services, Education, Culture and Employment, Housing Corporation and Justice. It’s been taking a little longer than I think any of us would have liked, but it is continuing to move forward. Right now we hope to have a work plan in place by August 2012, like I said the other day.

Obviously, we’d like to be moving faster, but there is a significant amount of research that needs to be done, and the original project has broadened in its scope so that it actually has some additional focus on things such as crime prevention, community justice… Nope, this isn’t the right one. Sorry. Integrated case management. We want to, as part of this project, we’re looking more in depth into integrated case management across the departments. Diversion from court. Rather than just specialized courts, we want to be looking at things like having people exit before they even enter the court system, so there’s some more focus on diversion courts. Specialized courts is obviously one of the main focuses on this, and we obviously need the ability to identify and respond to systemic barriers for individuals seeking some sufficiency. It broadened a little bit.

The terms of reference are done. The work plan should be available in August and we hope to have something forward for some decision-making by committee on helping us decide where we want to go once that data is pulled together.

Thanks for those additional details or repeated details. I’m wondering, the terms of reference, is that something that gets provided to committee. Has that been provided to committee for input or where are we at on that? Thank you.

Sorry, I didn’t catch all of that. One of the things that we can tell you is the director of court services has recently got back from the Yukon and she has actually compiled a really comprehensive, sort of, report on that particular type of court, and I’d be happy to come and present that information to committee sooner than later. It’s going to obviously form just one piece of the building block to help us make an informed decision on how to move forward.

As far as the final decision point, we do need to pull all that information together. I think the timeline now starts talking in the winter. Obviously, we want to make sure we get as much of it done as soon as we can, and I’m trying to push a little faster than that. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. I believe the question was whether or not the terms of reference could be provided to committee. Minister Abernethy.

Sorry about that. I missed that part. Absolutely, we can share those.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Bromley.

Madam Chair, could you repeat it? I missed that.

I believe the Minister said yes, he would provide terms of reference to the committee. Anything further, Mr. Bromley?

How do you spell that? No, I’m just kidding. No, that’s great, Madam Chair. This is an area that I think committee is very keen on. Obviously, we’re looking at the impacts of the crime bill coming down the pipe. I understand it’s already started and will continue to build, so I’m with the Minister in wanting to get things done a little quicker than the current timeline suggested, but more on that anon. That’s all I have for this page. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Page 9-23, activity summary, justice, court services, operations expenditure summary, $11.496 million.

Page 9-24, information item, justice, court services, active positions. Any questions? Hearing none, committee, we move to page 9-27, community justice and corrections, operations expenditure summary, $40.616 million. Are we agreed? Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just quickly for committee here, I know there’s a broad net cast here in terms of support, and we provide support to youth programs and so on. Given what we’re learning, the very exciting research and the massive amount of information that’s coming on board now about early childhood and the implications for investment in those early years for the full and proper development of the human being, and the consequences to a healthy life that avoids the sorts of issues that the Minister has to deal with here, is that an area that the department funds community groups or would contemplate funding? I’m thinking of things like parenthood during the early years and community events that support the young families and so on. Thank you.