Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my supreme displeasure over a letter written by the deputy minister of Renewable Resources, Mr. Joe Handley, in support of a young man who has pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm. The same young man was also charged with sexual assault. It was reported in last week's paper that the Crown dropped the charge of sexual assault because the assailant believed the victim was consenting.

Mr. Speaker, lot me make it perfectly clear that, as a long-time northern broadcaster, I fully support freedom of speech for all Canadians. If Mr. Handley, as a private citizen, wishes to write a personal letter in support of the young man, then that is his right. However, this freedom of speech does not give Mr. Handley the right to use his position as a deputy minister of this government in an attempt to influence the courts of this land.

Mr. Speaker, the letters of support written by Mr. Handley and others were presented by the accused's lawyers in an effort to obtain a conditional discharge. Given that the Northwest Territories has the highest rate of reported sexual assaults in Canada, I would like to think that this government fully supports northern women in their struggle against violence. But what are the women of the Northwest Territories to believe, Mr. Speaker? On one hand, we support women through agencies such as the NWT Council on the Status of Women and the NWT affirmative action advisory committee. But on the other hand, a senior government official offers a character reference which was presented to the court in support of a request for a conditional discharge for a man who has pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm.

There has been much concern expressed over lenient sentencing, including conditional discharges, in cases of family violence and sexual assault. Since letters of the type provided by Mr. Handley are used to try to mitigate in sentencing, I think we all have to stop and reflect, when asked to provide a letter of reference, what message will we send? We must all be careful to ensure that our actions speak as loudly as our words.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to assure the Minister of Renewable Resources that I will be pursuing this matter further during question period. Thank you.

Question.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act prescribes the indemnities and allowance to which a Member of the Legislative Assembly is entitled;

AND WHEREAS Members receive all indemnities and allowances according to this act;

AND WHEREAS all payments to Members of the Legislative Assembly come from the appropriations of the Government of the Northwest Territories;

AND WHEREAS the salaries paid to a Minister are not contained in the act;

AND WHEREAS payments made to Members of the Legislative Assembly are not reported in the territorial public accounts;

AND WHEREAS the need for accountability and access to information were demands made by the voters during the general election;

AND WHEREAS Members of the Legislative Assembly are committed to an open and accountable form of government;

AND WHEREAS the Members of the 12th Legislative Assembly wish to be responsible and accountable to the electorate;

NOW THEREFORE, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Keewatin Central, that this House recommends that the Speaker develop and prepare a method of annually tabling a statement that would show the mounts paid to each Member of the Legislative Assembly in the preceding year by way of indemnities, salaries, allowances and any such expenses paid in accordance with the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act;

AND FURTHER, that the salaries and the method of providing for any increase, of Members of the Executive Council be provided for in the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act;

AND FURTHER, that the appropriate amendments to the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act to implement the above recommendations be prepared and presented to this Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Justice. Yesterday the Minister advised that if I were able to inform him of any reason for speeding up access to the pilot project victims' statements, that he would consider approving that. I think today I pointed out an incident that has happened within the last week in Yellowknife, and I was wondering if the Minister would advise me how many more cases like that he would like me to bring to his attention before proceeding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to comment on the limited availability of services that enable victims of crime to prepare a victim impact statement for court consideration. In 1988, Mr. Speaker, all Ministers responsible for criminal justice in Canada, including the Hon. Michael Ballantyne, signed a statement of basic principle of justice for victims of crime. I would like to quote from one of those principles to which we agreed: 'Where the personal interests of the victim are affected, the views or concerns of the victim should be brought to the attention of the court where appropriate and consistent with criminal law in procedure!

Presently, Mr. Speaker, the Department of Justice and the RCMP are making services available to residents of the Northwest Territories in nine selected communities through a pilot project announced on July 3, 1991. Victims of crime in these nine communities are assisted by the RCMP, working jointly with the Department of Justice, to make voluntary victim impact statements. These enable the victim to tell the courts how a crime has affected them emotionally, physically or financially.

Persons who are victimized in other communities do not receive the same level of service. Frequently, the victim must endure the stress of giving evidence in person as their only recourse for advising the court about the impact of the crime. It does not make sense for an individual to have to endure additional personal hardship in order to appraise the courts of the hardship they have already suffered.

This hit home recently, Mr. Speaker, in a criminal matter which was widely reported in the local press. A Yellowknife woman, the alleged victim of a sexual assault, had information about the personal impact caused by the incident before the court. The only way she was able to make the evidence available to the court was to undergo the stressful and humiliating experience of taking the stand.

If she lived in Pond Inlet, Mr. Speaker, she would have had the option of making a victim impact statement. The same would be true if she was living in Norman Wells, Hay River, or in any of the other selected nine communities included in the pilot project. This is simply not fair.

Given that a large number of sentencing submissions are heard by the courts in Yellowknife and the other communities which are now excluded from the program, it makes little sense for residents of these communities to be excluded from the target group receiving these services. I would like to see the Department of Justice wrap up the evaluation phase of this pilot project, and move as quickly as possible toward full implementation of services aimed at the preparation of victim impact statements in Yellowknife and throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When examining the new building at SCOF we were astounded that we were going to get 50,000 square feet and that cabinet would not be committing to take up full-time occupancy in this building, but in fact adding another office to what they already have. In some cases this would mean a third or fourth office for a cabinet Minister. We do not really feel the need for that. I would be happy to offer the use of the office across from mine for a cabinet Minister's executive assistant if you wish, because I am not going to have one. So rather than having that office sit empty I think there are ways to move the cabinet in there.

Motion That Executive Council Take Up Full-Time Occupancy In New Legislative Assembly Building, Carried

Therefore, I would like to move that the committee recommends to the cabinet that they make a commitment to take up full-time occupancy in the new Legislative Assembly building in order to reduce the duplication of costs.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At the standing committee on finance the Minister told us that this was the first year that everything had been shown on one account. I just want the Minister to confirm, for the record, that as far as he is aware there are no plants or desks hidden in any of the other departments; this is the total cost that we are looking at for putting this building up.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think one of the major concerns we had in the standing committee on finance was that most of us had thought that the total cost of the Legislative Assembly building was going to be covered by the bond issue. Apparently much of this $10 million that we are looking at in total expenditures over the next two or three years was in other departments' budgets up until this year, and there was a decision made to move everything and show it as one budget item.

It caused us an awful lot of concern, and I guess the public really never seemed to understand that this whole thing would be covered by the bond issue. I know I did not know that.

The question for the Minister is, can we be certain that we have a fairly accurate forecast as to what the total cost will be for this project when we see the $10.044 million as total capital projections; on a scale of accuracy, how accurate does he believe this projection is?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have the following written question for the Minister of Justice. Would the Minister provide the House with a summary of the number of victim impact statements prepared by the RCMP and/or Government of the NWT Department of Justice over the duration of the pilot project in each of the following communities: Rae-Edzo Coppermine, Hay River, Fort Resolution, Aklavik, Norman Wells, Rankin Inlet, Pond Inlet and Sanikiluaq?