Thank you, Madam Chair. So for people who are in the system, their case worker can help them with those types of things. It's application-based. It's under the federal government so it's not the Department of Justice who would be doing that. And I can also say that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, through the income assistance program, will help people who don't have the funds to go through that process to get their record expunged. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Thebacha.

Okay, that's it.

Are there any further questions under corrections? Seeing none, please turn to page 303, Justice, corrections, operations expenditure summary, 2023-2024 Main Estimates, $39,344,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. We'll now turn to court services beginning on page 307 with information items on page 308. Are there any questions under court services? Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm just curious to know a little bit around how lessons learned during the pandemic with having some of the stuff moved towards more virtual or having defendants appear remotely by camera, etcetera. Has there been an improvement to our system? I think a lot of us can see in other areas that COVID firmly, you know, forced us to upgrade and become, you know, evolved quicker in our work. So I'm just wondering how any of this has translated into court services for the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Justice.

Thank you. And during COVID, the Member's correct, we did utilize technology much more often. We've provided more resources to the courts to help them manage this technology because the judges and court workers aren't necessarily tech people themselves. There have been videoconferencing systems installed in the RCMP detachments across the territory so that people can appear virtually there. Perhaps I can hand it to the deputy minister for some more discussion about the things that have happened. Thank you.

Thank you. Deputy minister Doolittle.

I think I've got a few more minutes left. So I'm really glad to hear that we didn't just decide to kind of go backwards in time and that we are keeping up with some of these opportunities. And I think that's great if people don't have to travel when they don't need to. Is it safe then to assume that some of this upgrade then is the increase for the materials and supply costs for this unit? There's looks to be about $100,000 that was during the pandemic time versus last year and this year -- or the upcoming year. I'm just curious to know if that's for that type of service. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Justice.

Thank you. I'll hand it to Mr. Bancroft.

Mr. Bancroft.

Thank you. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I guess just sort of more out of, like, a bit of curiosity, is there any way, and I'm assuming this has probably been looked at in the FPTs and such, but that people could create a legal challenge around the fact that they weren't able to come in person to a sitting? Is there anywhere it impacts people's rights that they're only able to come virtually? I am just curious to know if it opens up the government to any sort of liability or challenge? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Justice.

Thank you. And so that would determinations that the courts are making for the most part. But I'm comfortable right now, that being said with this rapid expansion of these types of appearances. Who knows what we'll see in the near future. You get two lawyers in a room and you get three different opinions on what's legal so it's hard to say. Thank you.

Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm not going to touch the lawyer comment. I'll keep my opinions to myself. Just looking around compensation and benefits, I note that again during the pandemic, we were at a much lower cost. We have increased. Is this the compensation for the judges, etcetera, that was recently approved? Is that why we're seeing such a large jump there? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Justice.