Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the need for a new territorial courthouse. Needs have certainly changed, but the space has not. You can only reorganize the existing courthouse so many times before it becomes unpalatable. I just want to say two more things, which is, the courthouse as it exists now doesn’t flow nicely when you consider the responsibility and sensitivity needed towards sexual assault victims where sometimes accused, the victims and the witnesses are all huddled together in the same area. It just makes it unpalatable.
The last thing I want to say on this point is, quite often when the judges call people to appear before court, whether it’s the day’s docket or for jury duty, they’re not only in the room standing against the walls, they’re standing out in the hall, down the spiral staircase, and into the first floor. All problems with the existing courthouse.
My question will be to the Premier. Will the Premier direct the program review office to review the functionality of our existing courthouse, and weight and balance that fairly to evaluate the need for a new independent courthouse to serve the citizens of the Northwest Territories, and ensure that people are getting justice safely and fairly?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve worked very closely with the committee and asked the committee to identify the areas that they want the Program Review Office to review. I’ve reviewed the list and I don’t see the Yellowknife courthouse on that list.
That’s one of the worst answers I’ve heard from Premier McLeod in a long time. The fact is, the 15-year-old study said we needed a new courthouse. The existing building was built in 1977 when we only had four judges and limited staff and processes. The territory has practically doubled in size. What will it take to get the courthouse situation reviewed by this government, weighed and balanced fairly, not an emotional decision? Because does this Premier have an issue with investing in Yellowknife or is he thinking that our needs in this territory don’t matter when it comes to a territorial courthouse?
Maybe if he asked better questions, he’d get better answers. I’ll leave it up to the committee. We did, as the government put it, have that project, called the NWT Law Courts Project, and we put $40 million in the capital budget in 2005-2006. Committee took it out of the budget. If the Member wants to put it back in, he would have to get the support of all the Members of the Legislative Assembly, especially the committee.
Now is another fine example of divide and conquer. Urban versus rural, committee versus process. Maybe the Premier, being such a maven when it comes to court space and experience, maybe you can explain why the existing courthouse, in its existing form, works and meets the needs of health and safety of our employees as well as, as I mentioned earlier, those accused, those victims and those witnesses when we’re working on their initiatives for the people.
I’d like to remind the Member that we don’t do capital planning in this Legislative Assembly. We do it in a separate process.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Where else would you do capital planning and discussion other than asking questions in the Assembly? What is the problem that’s holding this particular issue back? Is it because it’s an investment in the city of Yellowknife, or is it because the Premier has other ambitions or obligations that he is afraid to meet and cause conflict with this idea?
I’d suggest that the Member make his case with the committee and that at the appropriate time, through the capital process, he tries to get that amount of money approved.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
