Page 6-33, Municipal and Community Affairs, activity summary, sport, recreation, and youth, operations expenditure summary, $5.180 million.

Page 6-34 and page 6-35, Municipal and Community Affairs, activity summary, sport, recreation, and youth, grants and contributions, grants, total grants, $100,000, contributions, total contributions, $3.357

million, total grants and contributions, $3.457 million.

Page 6-36, Municipal and Community Affairs, activity summary, information item, sport, recreation, and youth, active positions.

Page 6-39, Municipal and Community Affairs, activity summary, regional operations, operations expenditure summary, $75.667 million.

Page 6-40, Municipal and Community Affairs, activity summary, regional operations, grants and contributions, community government grants and contributions, grants, $54.089 million, contributions, $13.838 million, total grants and contributions, $67.927 million,

Page 6-41, Municipal and Community Affairs, activity summary, regional operations, grants and contributions, other grants and contributions, total other contributions, $1.125 million, total other grants and contributions, $69.052.

Page 6-42, Municipal and Community Affairs, activity summary, information item, regional operations, active positions.

Page 6-44 and page 6-45, Municipal and Community Affairs, information item, work performed on behalf of others.

Page 6-7, Municipal and Community Affairs, department summary, operations expenditure summary, $95.533 million.

Thank you. Are we agreed that we have concluded the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs?

Thank you, committee. My goodness. I should have not been in the chair. Thank you to the Minister. Thank you to his witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, would you please escort the witnesses from the Chamber?

Okay, committee, we will now move on to the Department of Justice. Section 9. I’ll go to the Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy. Do you have opening remarks?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am pleased to present the main estimates for the fiscal year 2012-2013 for the Department of Justice.

The department’s main estimates propose an operations expenditure budget of $113.674 million. This represents an increase of 6.6 percent over the 2011-2012 Main Estimates, with just over $6.7 million for net forced growth to ensure core programs and services have sufficient resources to operate. These main estimates also propose $613,000 for strategic initiatives to enhance and expand service delivery to the residents of the Northwest Territories.

The bulk of our resources go towards maintaining core programs and services the people of the Northwest Territories rely on. These programs are efficient and effective. We support this Assembly’s vision of strong, independent people who are safe and secure in both their communities and in their homes. We provide safe and secure custody of offenders and community supervision to support rehabilitation and reintegration into communities.

The department’s mandate is to ensure all residents have access to justice, including legal aid, the courts, and their alternatives. We are working to build a system of justice that is open, accessible and responsive to the needs of the people that we serve. We support families when they are in conflict or personal crisis and help them as they work toward successful resolutions. The department is also responsible for serving and supporting the administration of the courts.

Whether it is a youth in trouble with the law, a victim who has been assaulted, people who need lawyers, families who need help working through separation or divorce, or an offender who needs the proper support to make better choices, we are there to assist. With almost 88 percent of our staff located in regional offices, we are close to the people we serve. However, we don’t do this alone. We have strong partnerships with NGOs, community justice committees, community and Aboriginal governments and our colleagues within the GNWT to ensure our services are integrated.

Later this week I will be tabling the Department of Justice’s 10-year strategic plan. In this plan we outline three broad strategic directions for future focus. These include:

•

improving the justice system’s response to

crime;

•

improving access to justice programs and

services, particularly in communities; and

•

building and maintaining a strong foundation of

financial, human, and technology resources to support the delivery of these programs and services.

These are broad directions with more refinement and detail to be outlined in a five-year implementation plan. We will be sharing this strategic plan with our partners and stakeholders, and bring forward the implementation plan this fall, but I can assure Members we will be working with you during this process.

In addition to our program and service work, the Department of Justice meets the needs of residents through our services to government. These include the provision of legal advice for all departments and legislative drafting, the provision of policy advice and support on ATIPP matters, and the services provided by the Aboriginal consultation unit. While these areas may not be clearly visible to most, they provide the backbone to a strong and effective government.

To provide these services and programs during times of fiscal restraint is not easy. The justice system is experiencing challenges similar to those confronting other departments. Socio-economic pressures are contributing to our crime rate that exceeds the national average by a factor of eight. In a time where there aren’t a lot of resources, it is vital that we not simply react to these statistics, but instead take the time to fully investigate them and make sound policy decisions that are also fiscally responsible.

We are working towards this by proposing investments in areas to support this Assembly’s priorities, as outlined in Believing in People and Building Strengths of Northerners, for example.

To continue to support children’s voices during child custody cases and child protection actions, $150,000 will be used to finalize the children’s lawyer office.

We will enhance family violence work with the funding of an RCMP family violence coordinator. The investment of $137,000 establishes a dedicated liaison with the RCMP to assist members and front-line workers with training and consistent information to help the most vulnerable.

Community safety is a shared responsibility. Through the Community Safety Strategy we look to invest $276,000 to work with the RCMP and each community, to share their strengths and develop the individual community policing plans to best meet their needs. We want our communities to thrive.

The department’s programs and services also provide the GNWT with modest revenue of $14.557 million or 12.8 percent of Justice’s expenditure budgets. These revenues are generated through cost-sharing agreements with the Government of

Canada for access to justice and youth justice services, exchange of services agreements for housing federal and Nunavut offenders, or through the collection of fees and fines in land titles and legal registries, and Territorial and Supreme Courts.

I am optimistic we can work with the budget we have and I look forward to continue to work with Members to make a difference to the people that we serve. With this first budget of the 17th Assembly

we will start to build a solid base in order to move forward.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide an overview of the department’s 2012-2013 Main Estimates. I look forward to discussing it with you in more detail.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Do you have witnesses that you would like to bring into the Chamber?

Yes, Madam Chair.