Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 9-13, Justice, activity summary, services to government, operations expenditure summary, $12.471 million. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I note a pretty large increase in compensation and benefits under services to government. Could I get a bit of an understanding as to what we are adding here?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That was for the legal divisions for support to devolution.
I’m sorry. I didn’t hear the answer. Could the Minister repeat it, please?
Mr. Chairman, that increase was for the legal division in support of devolution. Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, thanks to the Minister. So I note two pages in, I think, there is an increase in five positions. Are all five of those positions related to devolution or not? Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, there are 10 new positions in total. Thank you.
Okay, so I am presuming all 10 of those positions are not in this section because we get five more in active positions in two pages later on. Are some of those in another section? Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, it is just a net effect, that number. Thank you.
Great, thanks for that. So the 10 positions that we are adding, could I just get a rough idea of what types of positions they are, are they all lawyers or what functions do they have? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. For that, we will go to Ms. Schofield.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The positions are related to legal counsel, legislative drafting and access to information and privacy. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Schofield. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That’s all.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Moving on with questions on 9-13, I have Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have just a couple of questions here. The first one is coming out of the Government Operations report where committee had made a recommendation for stiffer penalties for bootleggers and drug dealers, and creating stiffer penalties such as seizure of vehicles and other materials related to any type of cases. I didn’t know whether to ask the question to this department, so I figured under this department would be the appropriate place. I just wanted to ask the Minister if there was any work that was done towards that or if there is any action going to be taken to these recommendations on creating these stiffer penalties to look at preventing or encouraging those that are doing these kind of activities to basically stop. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Department of Finance is taking the lead on that initiative and we certainly are supporting them in that effort. Thank you.
I just have one other question in this area. Speaking with other professionals and looking at other acts and things that we are trying to amend or change within this government, I had it come to my attention that the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, there are papers and reports that are done by intern students working in that area, for however long a period of time that they are, that they do come with good recommendations, as well, and I am not sure if committee or Members have ever seen those intern reports.
I just want to ask the Minister, are those reports that are done by interns that work for the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, available to the public, or are they available to Members of this House to review and look at whether or not we could take those recommendations and put them into action? Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, that is the first that I have heard of those types of reports. We can have the department go back and ask court services if they are familiar with those types of reports and where they go and how they could be utilized if there are some good recommendations in there. It might be an avenue worth exploring. Thank you.
Just for more clarity, I know that when the interns come – I think one – and they are put into working with the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, one of their projects that they take is that they develop a paper or something as such. I was actually speaking to one of them who was in the position and they mentioned that they came across all these papers, so they are definitely there, reports and papers by interns that do have recommendations, so I do enjoy reading reports. I am not sure if I enjoy reading them, but that is part of my job that I do take that initiative to read reports and look at the recommendations, so those would be definitely some that I would like to review. If that information is available to Regular Members it would be greatly appreciated if we could find that out. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chairman, we will find out for the Member and the House. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Moving on to questions on 9-13, I have Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to ask a little about the 15 percent increase I see here in compensation and benefits. I know the Minister mentioned that devolution is playing or having or creating a demand, for sure. I’m wondering if that is what this increase is. Yes, we’ll start with that. I believe there are five positions, which probably accounts for the 15 percent increase, but if we could hear a little bit about it and how that will be ongoing as to opposed to a one-time thing. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. We will go to Ms. Haener for that.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, those positions, the compensation and benefits increase there is associated with positions which will be located with the legislation division, legal division and in the ATIPP unit to support activities post-April 1st related to devolution.
So is that all five of these positions?
Yes.
That’s an education in itself.
The other area I am wondering about, I know from my experience with the AANDC offices, that when the mine inspection division had cases to be made and took it to Justice at the federal level, they repeatedly declined to take on that legal action, and obviously this has consequences because things get worse and worse and it is a bit of a sliding slope, so I want to know that this government is preparing for that. Now, this may not be the right division for this and I would welcome the Ministers’ direction on where to bring this up, but I am looking or will be looking for how this department is providing to ensure that we have the capacity to deal with those issues when inspectors put a case forward for legal action.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That question would possibly be best posed to the new Lands department. Thank you.
This is not a lands issue. The inspectors are out there doing their job, I think Lands, in this case, are adding a number of new inspectors. They do their work, they put a case together, they have to submit it to the Department of Justice for legal action. I want to know that, unlike the Government of Canada, this government will have the capacity to take that legal action. Thank you.
The department supports the various departments in legal advice and preparation, and I wouldn’t see it changing under what the Member is bringing up, so yes, that is what we do, we provide support and advice. Thank you.
So, what additional resources would be in this budget – and if there is another area to pursue this, then I am happy to do that – that will provide the increased capacity needed to deal with taking on the enforcement aspects of land and resource management?
We don’t do any type of enforcement. Again, we’re there to support departments and we would provide that support. We have beefed up the legal division’s team in advance of devolution, I believe, by five positions. We anticipate that division will be busier and, again, be ready, willing and able to provide advice and direction to various departments. Thank you.
Are we talking about this division?
The legal division is what I’m referring to, Mr. Chairman.
That’s all for this page. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Continuing on with questions on 9-13, I have Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On this particular page we have just over $9 million in grants and contributions, and that looks like it’s applied to 70 particular staff members. I’m just curious as to the particulars of the dollar amount. How many of 70 positions are filled and, conversely, how many are unfilled? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Was the Member talking about grants and contributions, the $9,000? Was that what he was referencing? Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Ramsay. I believe it’s the $9.231 million and the 70 positions. I think that’s what he’s referencing. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We’ll go to Ms. Schofield for a response. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Ms. Schofield.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m just trying to do a quick calculation of the number of positions that are vacant. There are three positions that Deputy Minister Haener had identified that are being sunsetted or inactivated, then there are two actual vacant positions in that area. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Schofield. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you for that. Out of the three positions that are being sunsetted, are they vacant at this particular moment, and if so, how long have they been vacant? Again, those three positions as noted by Ms. Schofield. Thank you.
