I move that this committee recommends that a new territory-wide target of 45 days be established for average wait times for legal aid services; and further, to support this target, in the 2014-15 fiscal year an additional $200,000 be allocated to hiring an additional lawyer for the Legal Aid Services Board. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. I will give a few moments for the motion to be distributed.
To the motion. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The committee that’s been bringing these motions forward, once again, is in support of the work that government is doing. Some other dialogue and statistics that we get when we do have questions for the department, a lot of these motions we do bring forward are in response to some of the questions and answers that we hear within our dialogue during the business planning session. We’re working with our organizations throughout the Northwest Territories, so committee just wants to acknowledge that we’re listening, we’re hearing what people are saying and I just want to acknowledge that through a motion.
I think you’re going to hear some questions from committee with regard to this particular page within the budget. I just wanted to acknowledge that.
Once again, I want to acknowledge the standing committee and also thank Members for listening to the motions that are being brought forward from committee. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. To the motion. Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, I appreciate Member Moses for bringing this forward. Committee had a long and heartening look at this particular motion for a number of different reasons. First and foremost, I think we have to thank the Department of Justice for listening to the Members last year, recognizing that the average wait time to seek legal aid was rather high in a lot of our communities. Some of those wait times were somewhere in the 90 to 120 days in some cases, which in Members’ views was a bit of a long period of time, especially to get access to legal advice. It’s probably imminent that they need to get things looked at.
The premise behind this motion is really to set a target rather than a dollar figure. We want the department to come up with what is a reasonable investment, so that target is really the focus of the motion. Bringing that average wait time to about 45 days for seeking legal aid, we think this is a very doable target with a very little amount of investment, yet this will definitely help greatly the Northwest Territories residents seeking that much needed advice. So the $200,000 is imbedded within the motion, but quite frankly, we suggest and encourage the department to use the 45 days as more the governance in doing so. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. To the motion. Mr. Hawkins.
I request a recorded vote, Madam Chair.
Thank you. The Member is requesting a recorded vote. Any further comments to the motion?
