Deputy minister Doolittle.

Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.

Yeah, I guess I complain about reviews sometimes but I've seen some reviews lead to really good results. And I think this is one where there probably needs to be a rethink. Even a well-run community justice committee with a good staff person is pretty limited in what they can do. You know, they can hold a couple meetings and they can work with the accused and get them to do some volunteer service but they're certainly not able to get to run any sort of larger programming.

And I think that's the step that's missing. I'll frame that in a bit of a question. I see there's some federal money flowing into this area. Do we know if there's any work to secure additional funds; you know, for the type of programming that this House always talks about, you know, on the land programming, mental health programming, treatment programming, anything you can kind of do to get our youth who are diverted or accused who are diverted to do a little bit more than the very small work that diversion is presently doing? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Justice.

Thank you. The department does receive a significant amount of federal funding for a number of different projects. Many of our initiatives are not funded by the GNWT solely but for the federal government and so we do understand the value of having federal partners, and the department is constantly looking for federal funds. You know, we've received some new funding through new agreements through those efforts recently. So, yes, we're alive to that. We would like federal funds. We're looking for federal funds all the time. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any other questions from Members under community justice? Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I just want to ask some questions about victim services. This is something I raised in the last Assembly and the then-Minister agreed to do a review of victim services, and I think it actually ended up resulting in an increase in funding, which was one of my objectives. But it looks like there's some federal funding that's coming in because, on page 300, victim assistance support projects is going from -- well, it went from 2022-2023 Main Estimates from $945,000 to over $2 million. So can someone explain what the extra $2 million is for? I'll start there. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of Justice.

Thank you. And this was mentioned earlier, and I wanted to comment on it but I didn't. But the Department of Justice does receive a lot of federal funding through agreements. Those agreements never seem to line up well with the main estimates process and so we'll often come here with a line item of zero or a certain number that will then be adjusted through a supplementary appropriation once we sign that agreement. So Members will probably be seeing a bit of that in here. But for a specific answer, I'd hand it to Mr. Bancroft. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Bancroft.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. So we're, I guess, maybe a year or more into that federal funding. How successful has it been in terms of victims receiving independent legal advice? I'll start with that. Thanks.

Thank you. Minister of Justice.

Thank you. This is a very new initiative; it just started. I'm not quite sure how far along it is. I don't think it's far along enough to be able to provide that type of information. I'm not sure if either of my witnesses has more information on this. I'd hand it to the deputy minister.

Deputy minister Doolittle.

Member for Frame Lake.

Okay, thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I guess one of the concerns I'm getting is these kind of batches of federal funding is what happens to the service when the funding ends? Because, you know, you create expectations, draws; you know, people begin to rely on that service and then all of a sudden the federal funding ends and then are we actually going to fund this stuff ourselves. That's, I guess, what I ask. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of Justice.

Thank you. So that's a decision for the, I believe, 2026-2027 budget year, because that's when the agreement will expire. It expires in 2026. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Yeah, thanks. Maybe I'll be a zombie and come back. Thanks.

So I guess one of the concerns I've heard about victim services is that, you know, we offer that the money to communities, to regions to do this, and they kind of do it in different ways and there's probably some need for some greater consistency there. But do we actually have full coverage across the whole NWT now for victim services? Thanks, Madam Chair.