Louis Sebert

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand there are some minor changes within the facility itself that would be necessary to raise its status to the status required to be a model or a program like Guthrie House. Thank you.

Yes. I think all of us who had the opportunity of visiting Guthrie House were impressed by the after-care element in that there were organizations that were assisting and also graduates, if I can put it that way. Of course, initially, we won’t have the support of graduates because, well, there won’t be any graduates until we have our first class through, if I can put it that way.

Accommodation, yes. That is going to be an issue that we have thought about and do have concerns about, particularly those who are returning to some of the smaller communities where housing is a real issue. Perhaps Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my left is Mandi Bolstad, director of corporate services. To my right is Martin Goldney, deputy minister. Thank you.

Yes. We may have some differences from that exact model, but generally speaking, it will be the same type of model. Thank you.

I'm not certain as to the exact nature of the training, but we could certainly look into that. As I have mentioned, we have hired somebody in the Inuvik office, and we are starting to deal with the equity leases in that region. Of course, as I have mentioned, there are 245 approximately equity leases to deal with, so there's a large number. Those are private-equity leases. There are similar, as I understand, from the department, leases between departments, but the ones that we are dealing with and we are concerned about are the private-equity leases.

Certainly, there will be training. Each of...

As I say, the current staff has, I've heard, bought into this change, but perhaps I could defer the question to Mr. Goldney and he could expand on my answer. Thank you.

The two remaining positions are in Fort Smith. I'm not certain when they will be filled, but we will certainly advise the Member opposite.

Yes. Our plan is to complete these current renovations that I know that committee might feel is throwing good money after bad, but even if we do move to a new stand-alone courthouse, and that is yet to be determined, clearly, it would take some time to build that or make those arrangements. I think we are going to be using the current Yellowknife courthouse for some period of time into the future, and we need to make sure that it is usable and up-to-date as possible.

Certainly, I hear the Member's concerns about putting additional money into a building we don't own. I hear you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As we implement and move forward with this, I certainly would be prepared to communicate with a town council, send them a letter as to our plans and targets. Guthrie House is not a minimum-security facility. It simply isn't. As I say - this will not exactly be like Guthrie House, but one of the things that impressed me there, and I'm doubtless it would have impressed others, is that those that end up at Guthrie House have to be highly motivated before they're accepted into the program, and hopefully that would be the same here. So we would have people, admittedly inmates...

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Certainly, we would be willing to share with committee. We would be very pleased to appear in front of committee to discuss this matter, our plans. We are working on program design at this time. We will be pleased also to discuss what training we are contemplating for the staff. Yes, we're very happy to appear in front of committee, should they wish. Thank you.