As I mentioned earlier, Mr. Speaker, we are working on this and we would hope to have such a plan by the end of the year.

Mr. Speaker, we have looked at initiatives that are taking place in other jurisdictions. Hopefully, they will provide some guidance to us as to the options that we will be looking at in our jurisdiction.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. Of course, this is one of the topics that’s going to be on our agenda for the summer caucus. We are doing research in this area and we’ll hopefully be presenting some options to caucus when we meet in the summer.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm pleased to present the 2016-2017 Main Estimates for the Department of Justice. Overall, the Department's estimate proposes a decrease of just over $3.4 million representing a decrease of 2.67 per cent over the 2015-2016 Main Estimates. The Department's budget continues to balance the need to ensure effective frontline program delivery while supporting the Government's objective of limiting expenditure growth to ensure the long-term sustainability of the fiscal framework.

The estimates represent the work of the Department for the administration of a justice system that is open, accessible and responsive to the needs of the people it serves. We are presenting a budget that continues to be prudent and responsible. Accordingly, we are presenting just over $4 million in expenditure reductions and reducing $383,000 through sunsetting programs, revenue has increased by six per cent or $849,000 mainly due to fees administered by the Legal Registry's Division.

These budget estimates represent $874,000 in forced growth costs, primarily arising from increases under the Territorial Police Services Agreement. The department will continue to meet the priorities of this Assembly as described in the mandate. We will continue to support families when they are in conflict or personal crisis. The Parenting after Separation Workshop is now being offered over the internet to reach families throughout the Northwest Territories.

The Family Mediation Program is offered via telephone for parents looking for support. We are working to make information about these programs more accessible. We will strengthen initiatives and partnerships to prevent and reduce family violence through a multi-pronged approach. This includes the promotion of training and education on the tools available under the Protection against Family Violence Act, such as emergency protection orders, as well as under the Residential Tenancies Act to provide victims of domestic violence with more options.

Additionally, work is being done with our partners to examine the feasibility of expanding the Domestic Violence Treatment Option Court beyond the two communities currently served. In addition to these actions, we are committed to ensuring men are receiving the most appropriate healing programming to help them to address violent behaviours toward their domestic partners.

We're improving access to justice in the Northwest Territories by expanding community legal outreach programs to make family law duty counsel services available to assist self-represented people for their first court appearances. As well, we will be expanding public legal education on programs and services available so people will know how to access the help they need.

Through these supports, families and individuals will be empowered to work towards successful resolutions, allowing them to return to more constructive and healthier alternatives. We will be supporting the RCMP and our communities as they work together as partners to prevent and respond to violence. Through policing priorities that speak to the unique needs of each and every community action plans are put in place that will allow further transparency and accountability. In order to improve our social response to crime reduction, we will be examining and analyzing the information we learn from these plans as well as other research work that is underway with our territorial partners in the Yukon and Nunavut.

We will continue to provide safe and secure custody of offenders. As the Assembly has identified, programs need to be culturally appropriate. There also needs to be a focus on rehabilitation programs that support reintegration back into communities. However, the causes of crime extend well beyond the confines of corrections facilities. We will work in collaboration as a government as we address the socioeconomic factors that are at the root of crime, including addictions and mental health issues, literacy and education rates, and poverty and homelessness.

We will ensure that we are able to support government activities by building a proper base of legislation and regulations to support a strong and sustainable territory for the future. As part of this support, we are currently engaged in a review of the Access to Information and the Protection of Privacy Act and are actively working on the implementation of a framework to ensure privacy protections in the Act will be consistently applied across the GNWT.

This concludes my opening remarks. I welcome your comments and questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, we're anticipating this change will actually save a great deal of money. Last year, just to give the House some statistics, we spent $467,000 to operate the library. There were only 984 visitors to the library, so that works out to about $500 for each person, each visitor, to the library. Only 385 books were signed out, which would work out to about $1200 for each book signed out. Additionally, our statistics indicate that most of the users of the current library are the legal profession and only about one per cent of the users are the general public, but I'm glad to see the Member opposite is concerned about the one per cent.

Mr. Speaker, I'm not certain which law library was spoken to or are they are planning to speak to. I know that there's two law schools in Alberta at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and the University of Calgary obviously in Calgary. I know little more than that. There will be communications with one or both of those libraries.

Mr. Speaker, the department is very focused on issues of access to justice and we're looking at the feasibility of establishing a resource centre in the courthouse which would allow counsel, legal counsel, and the general public to access electronic materials and a limited number of hard-copy books.

Mr. Speaker, at the time the budget was rolled, if I could put it that way, a letter was sent to the Law Society asking for their concerns or input. I can say that informally over the years I have consulted with my fellow practitioners and I took what they told me to Cabinet when we did discuss this very matter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Follow-up Letter to Oral Question 182-18(2): RCMP Services in Wrigley." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.