Louis Sebert

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize educator Jane Dragon of Fort Smith. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, after the caucus meeting and the summer is over there could be a meeting between -- another meeting of Caucus to discuss just those next steps. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr, Chair, when the competition goes out, then it would be known as to whether we are restricting the radius or not. Clearly, there's considerations that will go into the nature of the ad that goes out that will be mainly driven by the people actually hiring the person. So it would be known at that point as to the radius, if any, if there's a restriction on the radius. However, I can't really commit to anything along those lines at this juncture. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, they are employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, perhaps the deputy minister could be of assistance. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, the government is, of course, committed to filling the prior commitments developed in our mandate and is currently reviewing the feasibility of various options for establishing the office of the ombudsman. There are many different examples, and I know that in the last Assembly there was a good deal of time spent on this, and it may have been that there had even been some drafting. The department is developing a work plan which will establish timelines and deliverables relating this aspect of the mandate.

Now, the legislation, to a large extent, will be determined by our discussions...

Mr. Chair, I imagine we would hear from HR with respect to that. However, it's often difficult to staff these positions, so we may have to look further afield than a very narrow radius. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I know that the Legal Aid Commission does monitor, in the sense of, when there's complaints and everything, that there are complaints about lawyers or service, it does go to the commission. I can advise that, with respect to family law, which was a great concern because several years ago there were very lengthy wait times, up to nine months or a year  and I now understand that the wait list for family law clients is around 90 days, so three months. Urgent matters, of course, are assigned to counsel right away. So they do monitor client satisfaction, if I can put it that way, Mr...

Yes, Mr. Chair, the deputy minister can explain for what the fund is or the reason for the fund. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I think we're all cognizant of the great contribution of special constables. In the past, it did seem to me, and I arrived in the North as that program was kind of coming to an end, that there were, however, not many of our Aboriginal citizens who were actually full-fledged members of the RCMP. That started changing. So I think they found the program to be less important than it had been previously. The Member's point is well taken. Thank you, Mr. Chair.