Thank you. Minister of ECE.

Thank you. Not every community has a community justice committee but those that do, I believe are operating. Some are operating at a higher capacity than others. I'm not sure if deputy minister has more information. Thank you.

Thank you. Deputy minister Doolittle.

Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I would just -- you know, I think these community justice committees are just a long way away from where we would like them to be. I -- you know, I know many times they've struggled to retain members and retain staff which has made diversion, you know, difficult. Even here in Yellowknife when, you know, there's been times where we've been unable to divert files because the community justice committee just is not operating. And I think this is an area where we really could be a leader. You know, there's sentencing circles happening in other jurisdictions. There's, you know, all sorts of alternative measures and diversions well beyond what we're doing.

Have we done a review about perhaps whether the way we are funding this and the current model can be altered to kind of get this going in the right direction? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister of ECE -- or sorry, Minister of Justice.

Thank you. So as I mentioned before, there are some community justice committees that are operating at a very high capacity, and it's because they have someone who was, you know, very committed and very good at what they do and were very experienced. And there's others where there is constant turnover, and it's often just because, you know, that's who was in the community at that time and maybe someone who would be good at it is doing something else. And so it is tough in a small -- in a very small population like ours to have so many committees, you know, functioning at a very high level all at the same time. That being said, I understand what the Member is saying and in many ways, we are a leader. We've been doing this longer than most jurisdictions in Canada. For some information on the types of reviews or evaluation or how we keep track of how things are going, I can ask the deputy minister to expand. Thank you.

Thank you. Deputy minister Doolittle.

Thank you, deputy minister. Just a reminder to slow down a little bit for the interpreters; they're still with us. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I think this is in need of a review. And, you know, I like the idea of getting as many community ones as possible and, you know, for some of the smaller liquor infractions or probation infractions, please divert them, do it at the community level. But I'll note most jurisdictions have some sort of higher up diversion. You know, Alberta alternative justice, where you can refer someone from anywhere in the province and they run, you know, weeks on-the-land programming. They run really elaborate diversion programming that I just don't think any one of our one community programs could run. So in doing that, have we looked at perhaps creating a higher territorial-wide alternative justice or diversion committee? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of Justice.

Thank you. No, but there -- we do have the wellness court and the domestic violence treatment options court. So there are some other options. But no, we don't have a super committee in mind for community justice committees. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I note that this is the area where money that is provided to the YWCA for the -- I believe the emergency protection orders, and that is what they meant by "as designate" under the act. This number stayed the same, and I get that this is one area that must be quite difficult to forecast. But given everything that we've been hearing about the pandemic and the affects on the domestic violence situations and mental health, do we anticipate that we're going to need to have more money here? Do we know if the YWCA is busier than they had been before? What sort of analysis and work is being done around that? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister of Justice.

Thank you. So we do have information on how many EPOs have been issued. I have probably the last the year but I don't have any further back than that. So I'm not sure if deputy minister can provide a bit more information on any trends that she might be aware of. Thank you.

Thank you. Deputy minister Doolittle.

Thank you. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is one where, though, it's hard to say that just -- yeah, because maybe a number a little less or, you know, that doesn't mean that things aren't happening behind the scenes and just aren't being reported. As people are not socializing outside the home so much, there's probably less opportunities for them to have conversations with friends and family to maybe identify and be encouraged to go. I think everyone's aware of my situation in this last week, and I have been reached out to by the RCMP and by being offered victim services. It took me a bit to realize what had happened to me was something that actually, you know, needs to be reported and talked about, etcetera. So I feel that there are many that maybe don't realize that they're in a situation where they need help.

So if the YWCA were to express that there is more of a need here, and perhaps not necessarily just around the EPOs but in general, is there more money available to provide them to continue with that service, or will this be a firm number? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Justice.

Thank you. So in addition to the YWCA, and as the Member is aware, she just mentioned, we also have victim services. And that recently was reviewed and there were some changes made to that, and there were -- you know, we were able to redirect some funds to enhance those supports as well. So this is just one area.

In terms of the funding, there isn't a plan in this fiscal year to increase it. I'm not sure if the deputy minister has anything to add on that one. I don't think she does, but there's no doubt that this is a serious issue and we, you know, implement -- and develop and implement the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Action Plan. We are going to make determinations about how we can, you know, better utilize the resources we have and perhaps make decisions about additional resources. Thank you.