Thank you, committee. On to page 53, court services, with an additional information item on page 54. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I see that we are again paying to upgrade the Yellowknife courthouse. This is a leased building, and, over the years, I think we have spent a great deal of money reconfiguring and modifying this building, which is a shared judicial facility and an office building for the Department of Justice. That can be at cross purposes. Court facilities have higher security demands than, say, an office building, and oftentimes it is difficult for those two neighbouring purposes to share that space and adequately address the security needs of the building. I know this from personal experience. Furthermore, it is an office building that has been modified into a courthouse, so, again, there are a number of technical and security concerns.

I wonder if the Minister has a perspective on whether or not we should continue to invest millions of dollars in a building we do not own or whether or not we should move to a purpose-built facility, a more modest facility than is currently on the books, so we can actually own this building, have it purpose built, have it safe and secured, and separate the judiciary away from the Department of Justice, which is something the judiciary has wanted for quite some time. Does the Minister have a plan to work on a project like that and actually get some not only judicial separation but a more effective structure for financing this important facility for the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.

Yes, Mr. Chair. This is now a 40-year-old building. It was initially built as a courthouse, but my understanding is that it always included office space housing the Department of Justice.

I realize that philosophically that creates some problems in that there should, of course, be a clear division between various branches of government and the judiciary. There have been efforts over the years to promote, if I can put it that way, a standalone courthouse, which would clearly be a good thing. I think we can all say that.

The problem is, as I understand, that years ago when this was looked at, the price was very high. You are quite correct that a lot of money has been put into the building over the years, and those leasehold improvements, as I understand it, have been paid for by the government. I believe our current lease is coming up in a few years.

I think at this point I can tell you that we will be discussing with the Department of Infrastructure this whole issue of our courthouse needs going forward into the future. I do realize that the building is no longer -- it's adequate, but it's probably not the best. This is a live issue with us and we will be discussing it with Infrastructure. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That seems to be very good news. Can the Minister confirm when the lease is up? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Working with the Department of Infrastructure, as the Minister put it, is that work going to start now? Are we thinking post-2021 or is this still going to be a 10-year process of waiting the lease out? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister.

I think the plan is, Mr. Chair, to start those discussions fairly soon with the Department of Infrastructure, perhaps in the next six months, by 2018.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm satisfied with that response. Nothing further.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think it's been almost a year and a half now that we have the proud distinction of being the only jurisdiction in Canada without a court library and without any public access to it. The money in this portion of the justice budget for the courthouse structural upgrade, is any of that for this legendary public resource centre? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will give some brief outline about the resource centre/library, and then if I may defer to my deputy minister here.

Now, the old library on the first floor is still open to lawyers and others by appointment. I think they've only had one non-lawyer, one or two at most, seeking to get into the library. It's not as though there's nothing there. We are making plans for a resource centre.

Perhaps at this point I could turn the matter over to Mr. Goldney and he could provide some further information. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Goldney.

Thank you, Mr. Goldney. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. When can we expect this resource centre to actually open its doors to the public? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

As mentioned, the current library, of course, is open to the public. Opening a new resource centre will depend on the nature and type of renovations that we decide to do, if any. As has been mentioned, the issue of renovations appears much more complicated than we had originally anticipated. Thank you, Mr. Chair.