David Ramsay

Mr. Chairman, we will find out for the Member and the House. Thank you.

The staff lawyers that we do have, the 15 positions that I spoke of earlier, as they’re doing their job and interacting with the clientele, if they have issues or feel we should be looking at resourcing things in a different manner or doing things differently, they would bring that up to management. It would end up going to the Legal Services Board and we could make some decisions from there through the Legal Services Board. That’s currently how that’s handled and it’s an ongoing process, so as situations arise.

I should also mention that all of the positions that we have are currently fully...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The office of the coroner is a separate entity. If we looked at formalizing, you know, it is the coroner’s reports and instructions to government, and to formalize that in some different fashion would change the role of the coroner’s office and that is a pretty big discussion to be having, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

It’s almost impossible to answer that question because some positions are vacant for a month, others are vacant for two months. You have to bring in casuals at some point to carry out the duties of those positions on a case-by-case basis. It is not something that you can just put a number at and say this is that. We have a department to run and we’re always filling positions as they come up. That number is going to change, as is the number that’s there. It’s not a static number. It’s something that’s constantly changing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As Minister of Justice, I think I have to be very careful on getting involved in the Criminal Code side of things or sentencing. From my perspective and the department’s perspective, it’s very important that we look at opportunities to divert people away from the mainstream court system. Oftentimes, having communities deal with sentencing and issues at the community level is far more effective than locking somebody up in an institution, and we have had some success there. We made a presentation to the standing committee this morning on wellness courts, and that’s...

Thank you. We can get that detail for the Member, get him a breakdown. I think we even have it by facility as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To my left I have Mr. Peter Vician, deputy minister, Industry, Tourism and Investment. To my right, Ms. Nancy Magrum, director, shared services, finance and administration.

Mr. Speaker, we need to continue the dialogue with all departments and ensure that when we are contracting, whether it is any of the various modes of contracting that this government does, an eye is to keep those dollars in the Northwest Territories. Not always are we going to be able to get the goods or services here in the Northwest Territories. There are going to be examples of when we have to go outside, but again, it’s our government’s goal to ensure that the procurement dollars that we do have end up staying here in the NWT for us. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Department of Finance is taking the lead on that initiative and we certainly are supporting them in that effort. Thank you.

I don’t have that detail, but we’d be happy to provide the Member with that detail. Thank you.