Louis Sebert

Yes, Mr. Chair, it is mostly related to the subscriptions, which are incredibly expensive, and probably have gone up in price over the years. In fact, I’m sure they’ve gone up in price over the years.

Mr. Chair, I understand that they would be covered under the workers’ compensation legislation as all workers are and I also understand that there’s a bit of an overlap of coverage with the Corrections Act.

Mr. Chair, although the building is fairly old it’s in excellent condition. I had the opportunity of doing a tour of the facility a couple of months ago. Obviously, there will be a continuing need to have that facility. We’re not envisioning any change; there will always be a need for some facility such as that for youth. That facility seems to be in excellent shape and we’re not contemplating any major changes. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, the Law Society of the Northwest Territories and the NWT Law Foundation over the years have contributed towards the financial contribution of the operation of the library. The total amount contributed, however, has fallen. In 2007-08 it was around $120,000 and it’s fallen currently to about $50,000. It would appear that the contributions have fallen even while our costs have risen. As a percentage of the costs, and I don’t have the figures in front of me, obviously the contributions have fallen to be about 11 per cent from probably a much higher percentage in 2007-08. Although there...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. To my left is Kim Schofield, director of finance, and to my right, Sylvia Haener, deputy minister of Justice.

Mr. Chair, we are hoping that the appraisal of the program, the evaluation of the program, will be completed by the mid-fall, perhaps October, November. If there are issues, we certainly are not going to abandon the field, as it were. We are committed to having this program or this type of program in force. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, Mr. Chair. Perhaps Ms. Schofield can assist.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Perhaps Ms. Schofield could answer that, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, after a careful evaluation of the young offender facility, we had found that the numbers had been falling over the years, mainly as a result of the change in the act in approximately 2003. We’ve been looking at this for some time and have noticed a steady decline in the numbers; there didn’t seem to be any jump. Certainly we are committed to keeping the facility here in Yellowknife. The whole facility, in the sense of that facility and the adult facility are being re-profiled as far as employment within the facility, but the young offender facility will remain with dedicated staff...

Mr. Chair, I didn’t think I’d be asked about ancient times, but when I was starting out I did have my own library and built it over the years and in fact still have it because the books were incredibly expensive and it hurts to throw them out though they have become increasingly out-dated. In the last few years of my practice, I had one or two books, criminal code watts, one or two others and that was about it. The rest of the research was done online, so I don’t think that is very different from most of the lawyers, younger lawyers, coming out now. I think actually a lot of them wouldn’t even...