Mr. Speaker, the department indicates that it will be replacing the library with a new research centre. Can the Minister give us more detail about what this research centre is going to be all about? Are we talking about a few surplus computers in a dimly-lit room or is this something more substantial? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I spoke about the Department of Justice closing the law library and sources of public legal information in the Northwest Territories. I'd like to ask the Minister of Justice what kind of consultations were undertaken with the users of the library? Were lawyers, the Law Society and legal advocates consulted in this? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in almost every province and territory, organizations have been set up to provide essential legal information to the public at large. These non-profit and non-governmental groups believe that citizens cannot fully understand, much less exercise their legal rights unless they are informed and understand the laws that affect them. These groups differ from a lawyer's office or a legal aid clinic by providing general information on the law rather than legal advice for specific problems.

Mr. Speaker, I was curious about public legal information in the NWT, and through the Canadian Bar Association, I was directed to a defunct page of the Department of Justice here in the Northwest Territories. I would like to advise the Minister, if I may, that the department ought to address this before it's more than just a curious MLA trying to find information.

Luckily, Mr. Speaker, Google exists, and it directed me to the Northwest Territories Legal Services Board. Although it has no website, when I called their number, I was redirected to Legal Aid, which is by no means responsible or expected to provide public legal education. I wasn't giving up so easily though, Mr. Speaker, and Google, rather than the information provided by the Department of Justice for the public, came through again.

The Law Society of the Northwest Territories is the governing body for all lawyers in the Northwest Territories, and thankfully, also provides some resources for public legal education. All these dead ends shows that this territory lacks the public legal education provided in almost every other jurisdiction, but at least we have the law library, or not.

Recently, the Department of Justice announced plans to close the territory's only law library by the end of this fiscal year, and I quote from the Minister, "it is just not economically responsible to keep it open."

Mr. Speaker, no library was ever opened to be economically advantageous. They exist as a resource for the public to expand its knowledge and awareness through having free and easily accessible sources of information. Libraries are important, a law library even more so, and if the government goes through with this policy, the NWT will be the only province or territory without a physical law library. Mr. Speaker, I want to ensure accessible, free, and public legal education and information is available to Northerners, and I will have questions later for the Minister of Justice. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Minister said, if the focus on the program is on lower income earners and to address poverty issues, shall we say, then perhaps the program is working. What it is not doing is helping middle-class or middle-income earners, who are perhaps single parents or individuals renting. It is not doing much to help them. My concern is that affordability remains high, and if you are a young person coming back to start your life in the North and you don't have two incomes and you are renting and your rent is very high and your cost of living increases to grow, you can't find affordability in your home situation. You may be given very few choices. Finding a spouse so you can add an extra income to your household is probably too much a choice for most people to make. The other choice is leaving. The more people we lose to our high cost of living, the fewer resources this government has to provide services and benefits to Northerners. So I would strongly recommend we take a look, maybe not through this program, but another program, to help those middle-income earners, who are young people struggling to make ends meet. They might have well-paying jobs, but it is just not well enough for our high cost of living. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Are those 150 clients receiving the full amount of the allocated funding? The $900,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand that the TRSP has some difficulties with uptake. What is the current usage rate of the program? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding of consumer choice would be that there is a choice given. The purpose is to house people and they have a choice in where they are being housed, not forced into housing. I don't think that is one of the principles at all. By providing a rent subsidy, as per most established Housing First models, you give clients more choices than a handful of, I think the Minister previously provided, 30 semi-independent housing units. So that is where I am finding the most difficulty with calling these Housing First units. I don't take issue with transitional supportive housing and semi-independent housing. It is just not Housing First. I think there is still a great deal of confusion about this. If we are going to do Housing First, let's do Housing First. The $150,000 to support the city of Yellowknife's Housing First model, which is established under those principles, that is Housing First. Anything else deviates too far away from the principles of Housing First to be called that. So let's just be clear about the language that we use, but I will drop that for now.

The other question I had was about the transitional rent supplement program. I have personal experience with this. It doesn't appear to me and the people who I know who have used it to be geared towards middle-class income earners. Those are people who may apply for the program and receive five to 10 dollars off their rent bills. But it is not helping those middle class move toward things. I know there is also the PATH program. What is the income threshold, really? Who is the TRSP really geared towards helping in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. How did those semi-independent housing units fit with the Housing First model being that the Housing First model is driven by consumer choice? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Perhaps I didn't frame the question well enough. I am less interested in the funding or the principles of the funding, I suppose. For the semi-independent Housing First units that the department is committing to, are those included in that $600,000 transitional support housing line item? Thank you, Mr. Chair.