Thank you. Department, not previously authorized, $42,993,000. Are there any questions?

Seeing no further questions, Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures) No. 1, 2025-2026. Department of Infrastructure, capital investment expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $42,993,000. Does the committee agree?

Thank you. Committee, we will now consider the Department of Justice on page 17. Corrections, not previously authorized, $752,000. Are there any questions?

Seeing no further questions, Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures) No. 1, 2025-2026. Department of Justice, capital investment expenditures, corrections, not previously authorized, $752,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. Court services, not previously authorized, $3,477,000. Are there any questions? I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So listed under here is an amount that's not an offset by a lapsed amount, and it's not -- doesn't appear to be offset by revenues from the Government of Canada. So there's an extra $2.3 million for funding for planning and design activities related to the Yellowknife Courthouse Infrastructure Project. Can the Minister explain what that's about and why that was not foreseen earlier in our main budget. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister for the question.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is an amount that is in response to concerns that have been raised by the judiciary. Now, I will answer maybe the last question before the first, which is whether or not it was foreseen. Mr. Chair, obviously -- I shouldn't say obviously, but judiciary has raised concerns about the state of the building and whether or not it was adequate and fit to purpose over the course of some time, and there have been over the course of time different efforts to try to alleviate those concerns.

What has been raised and what is proposed to be done on this present occasion, there's a number of specific risk areas, namely, the spacing and whether or not it provides a sufficient space to, for example, accommodate juries and have a separated space from the common areas when there is a jury that is hearing a jury trial and particularly if they're being -- when they're entering into deliberations. Similarly, a lack of any specialized court space or a lack of any Indigenous appropriate space for efforts being made by the judiciary to better accommodate the residents of the Northwest Territories.

Security concerns, Mr. Chair, and this is in response more recently to the nature and type of criminal matters that are being heard more frequently and whether or not there needs to be an amendment to, for instance, the entryways, in particular, screening, and that is something that is -- we're hoping to be able to address now with this funding.

And last but not least, Mr. Chair, simply the co-location of judicial branch of government with really any other party and particularly those who might be appearing in front of the court, namely, the Department of Justice.

So with that, Mr. Chair, that does require a bit of work and planning, and we are looking at moving the Department of Justice out of what is now the fourth floor of the building that is co-located with the courts, and this is in part meant to start to immediately deal with some of the security issues but then also to line up to dealing with whether -- where and how to move legal division out and to be able to create a space that is more appropriate for the court usage exclusively. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So just to confirm that this is the very beginning stage of this project? Like, the -- these concerns obviously they've just arisen sometime since we passed our last capital budget and now this project is to begin; can the Minister just clarify? Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, so I can say over time that there's been, as I said, different questions and initiatives but there has been a more recent outreach from the judiciary, and it was in response to that that efforts were made to see what immediate steps could be taken. Again, to build an entirely new facility, which is something that's been asked, is well over the $200 million mark, and so there was an effort made here to say -- to try to respond, as I said, to recent outreach from the judiciary. This amount gets moving in terms of some immediate changes to the entryway which would help control entry and access to the court, the courtrooms and to the courthouse section, as well as for planning of a renovation to particularly deal with the separation of the spaces and the enhancements to the jury room. That project is expected to take a few years. This is really, as the Member said, step one. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No further questions.

Okay, thank you. Are there any further questions from Members? Okay, thank you. Continuing on.

Seeing no further questions, Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures) No. 1, 2025-2026. Department of Justice, capital investment expenditures, court services, not previously authorized, $3,477,000. Does the committee agree?

Thank you. Total department, not previously authorized, $4,229,000. Are there any questions? Thank you. Seeing none, thank you.

Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures) No. 1, 2025-2026. Department of Justice, capital investment expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $4,229,000. Does the committee agree?

Thank you. Members, there is a schedule on page 18 that details the impact of capital estimates. This schedule is not a voteable item and is included as information only. Are there any questions?

Seeing no further questions, we will continue on as this is not a voteable item.

Committee, do you agree that you have concluded consideration of Tabled Document 340-20(1), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures) No. 1, 2025-2026; does committee agree?

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion.