Thank you, Minister Sebert. Ms. Green, your time has expired. Would you like me to put you on the list again? Okay. Thank you. Committee, are there any further questions to page 275? If not, we continue with page 274, legal aid services, operations expenditures summary, total activity, $6,252,000. Are we agreed? Mr. O'Reilly.

Mr. Chair, when I look at page 274, program detail, there are cuts between what was in the mains for 2015-16 and 2016-17 for court workers, legal aid commission, and the Yellowknife Legal Aid Clinic. Even the Somba K’e Legal Aid Clinic, there's a small decrease there. So, with this decrease in expenditures for legal aid services, how are we actually improving access to justice, which is in our mandate? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Sebert.

Mr. Chair, if I could go through the list in some detail, if we could look first at the Community Legal Aid Clinic, the variance is due to a transfer of a new phone system to TSC, budget and reductions and savings from a new Voice-over-Internet-Protocol system, so it's a technical improvement that leads to the saving.

With respect to court workers, the Main Estimates of $1,084,000, the variance is due to the elimination of the court worker position in Fort McPherson, which had not been filled for some time. Legal aid commission, again its improvement, it's technology, it appears; variance is due to reductions in private Bar fees, savings from the new Voice-over-Internet-Protocol system and transfer of a new phone system.

Office of the children's lawyer, variance is due to transfer of a new phone system. Somba K’e Legal Aid Clinic, variance is due to a new phone system, again. That would appear to be the case also with the Yellowknife Legal Aid Clinic. It appears, in our view, that there's not really a reduction in service; there's some efficiencies that have led to these reductions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Sebert. Any further questions, Mr. O'Reilly?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm all for efficiencies. Does the department then have any specific plans on how it is going to monitor access to justice? What specific indicators? Is there going to be satisfaction surveys? I don't know. What are the specific plans of the department to actually monitor and track access to justice and how the department is going to improve on that over the term of this Assembly? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Sebert.

Mr. Chair, I know that the Legal Aid Commission does monitor, in the sense of, when there's complaints and everything, that there are complaints about lawyers or service, it does go to the commission. I can advise that, with respect to family law, which was a great concern because several years ago there were very lengthy wait times, up to nine months or a year -- and I now understand that the wait list for family law clients is around 90 days, so three months. Urgent matters, of course, are assigned to counsel right away. So they do monitor client satisfaction, if I can put it that way, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Sebert. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have no further questions, just a quick comment: that I'm still trying to understand how closing the legal aid clinic in the Beaufort-Delta, closing court registry, and closing the court library actually improves access to justice, but that's more of a statement. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Sebert, would you like to comment?

These changes, Mr. Chair, were only contemplated after very, very complex and comprehensive examination of the clinic library system, and it was thought that our money could simply be used more efficiently in a different way. So these changes were not taken on lightly. I realize there's a good deal of concern about many of these changes, but we thought it was simply the best, moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Sebert. Committee, any further questions to page 274? Legal Aid Services, operation expenditure summary, total activity, $6,252,000. Are we agreed?

Thank you. That brings us to page 277, office of the regulator of oil and gas operations, operations expenditure summary, total activity $1,869,000. We'll just defer this and go to questions on page 278, office of the regulator of oil and gas operations, active positions, information item. Any questions? Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm going to approach this cautiously, because I have the greatest respect for the staff in this office. As I understand it, these folks are all employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Is that correct, Mr. Chair?

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Sebert.

Mr. Chair, they are employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Sebert. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Sebert.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand that all of the positions are indeterminate. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Sebert. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess where I'm going with this is the individual services executive director is a government employee, indeterminate, and does he serve, then, at the pleasure of the Minister? How is that position crafted? Thanks, Mr. Chair.