Louis Sebert

My understanding, Mr. Chair, is the vast majority of the cost is hard copies. What you find with the subscriptions is that loose-leaf service is most of them, so they have to be put in the books, but they come every quarter depending on changes in the law, and they are, I know from personal experience, incredibly expensive.

Mr. Chair, no, they do not sign a waiver. In fact the Workers’ Compensation Act does not allow such waivers. People simply cannot waive the conditions and protections that are afforded by the act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, of course. For example, just as one change we’ve made, I designated it a couple of months ago as a facility in which women prisoners on remand could be held. This was a significant problem in Yellowknife. Perhaps Ms. Haener can expand on my answer, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, due to the nature of the budgetary process, I didn’t feel as if I could go to them in advance, because that would be an indication of what we were doing in our budget. As I say, somewhat informally over the years I have spoken to other lawyers. I was the treasurer of the Law Society for a couple of years, and in that period of time I could see that we started reducing our contribution to the library. I couldn’t really, in detail, speak to the Law Society about this proposed change in advance of the budget coming out. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, as the House will note there is a review of the ATIPP Act being conducted at this very time and that is one of the matters that is going to be considered.

Mr. Chair, the organization that we have contracted with has undertaken, as I understand it, to deliver the evaluation of the program by the end of fall. Certainly, we wish to have seamless delivery of this program or this type of program on an ongoing basis. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, Mr. Chair. That is correct. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I understand that inmates who avail themselves of this work are on a temporary absence program, and I understand that liability is covered by the act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, the reprogramming of the youth facility will result in considerable savings, and that’s the reason, as I understand it, for the reduction. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, in view of the very little usage by the general public, it seems that the public isn’t that interested in using this resource either. To be fair also, that unlike other libraries that resource is only open for a fairly limited time, but even during the hours of operation, I think only about one per cent of the people using it were members of the general public. As I say, these types of resources, legal research can be done online cheaply and often at no cost. That’s how envision legal education in the future. Thank you, Mr. Chair.