Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do.

Thank you, Madam Chair. With me today on my left is Lucy Austin. She is legislative counsel and former executive director of the Legal Services Board. Ian Rennie is on the far side. He is legislative counsel. Beside me is the assistant deputy minister of the Attorney General branch, Mark Aitken.

I am pleased to be here today to talk to you about Bill 5, Legal Aid Act.

Firstly, I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Social Programs for their review of this bill and for all of the constructive feedback they have provided in a very collaborative manner. A number of motions were made in committee and I am pleased the bill has improved as a result.

The Legal Aid Act will replace the existing outdated Legal Services Act. This new act provides the framework for the operations of the Legal Aid Program here in the Northwest Territories. It is not intended to set out the details of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled Action Plan 2012-2016, 20/20: A Brilliant North – Public Service Strategic Plan, July 2012.

Thank you, Madam Chair. On my right is Mark Aitken, the acting assistant deputy minister for the attorney general branch. On my left is Kelly McLaughlin, the acting director of legislation.

I’d certainly be interested in talking to Cabinet and committee about that possibility and discussing it in more detail with the Member.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am pleased to appear before the committee today to review Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Judicature Act. I would like to start by thanking members of the Standing Committee on Social Programs for their careful review of the bill.

The Judicature Act governs the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories.

There are two substantive changes to the act. The first adds a new section providing that trade orders obtained against the NWT under the Agreement on Internal Trade may be filed with the clerk of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. Once...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The means by which fuel prices are determined hasn’t changed. Costs are based on what it actually costs to buy the product by the GNWT, the cost to ship it to the communities, and there is an admin fee put on it so that individuals in the communities who are distributing it have the money to cover their services, and there are some taxes as well. The means by which these numbers are determined hasn’t changed, but it does result in a higher cost as the product gets more expensive for us to buy.

Madam Chair, I was actually just coming to my last bullet. The bottom line is we understand the flexibility. We get that, but this jurisdiction isn’t a larger jurisdiction where there is significant capacity. Our budgets are incredibly limited in legal aid. We have very little money and that money is not increasing. The feds haven’t increased their contribution. They’re not going to increase the contribution, yet the costs continue to go up. Every time the costs go up and the federal contribution stays the same, that money has to come from the Government of the Northwest Territories. We know...

We want to ensure that we have a commission that represents people of the Northwest Territories. If you look at clause 4(5) it says, “The Minister shall, in appointing Commission members, consider the diversity of the population and the gender balance of the Northwest Territories…” So we intend to take into consideration and make sure we have regional representation, gender representation, so that all people of the Northwest Territories are fairly represented. The commission will then have an opportunity to work with the executive director to set some priorities in how services will be...