Thank you. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And I guess I'm concerned, too, about the bed usage because, you know, if we've got, you know, buildings that are, you know, two inmates in, you know, I'm glad to hear that we don't really have any inmates in them, that's kind of what we're what we're shooting for, but at the same time, you know you know, there might be better use for those buildings that, you know, we could be training and, you know, helping people in another way.
So in saying that, you know, looking at the decline, looking at the the bed usage and that, has the department been looking or is there any planning to maybe to retire some of those buildings or again to use them for something else in any of the communities? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Madam Chair. There isn't a plan to retire any of the buildings. You know, I do look at these low numbers, and I look that we have some facilities where prisoners could be housed in either one, and perhaps there's opportunities to repurpose some of those facilities. We already have a budget associated with them. We have facilities themselves. But there is nothing in the works. But this is a relatively new phenomenon, these low numbers. I mean, when I took over the portfolio, they weren't this low. And when we got here, they weren't nearly this low. So this huge decline is very, very recent, and it's a little early to start making those decisions. But that being said, I think we have to look into whether or not there are better uses for these facilities and, you know, for the money that we are putting into them. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And I understand that, you know, you can't have a mixture of youth and seniors I guess, and in the time that I spent in the correctional centres visiting. You know, like I had lots of friends like, I had friends in there and I'd go visit because they had good food there. And so I'm just wondering if, you know, you've got, you know, one or two people in Fort Smith, say, in the facility there, is there any way to incorporate youth at risk that maybe aren't going to school, somehow, to use that facility as well to provide, you know, some education, because I suspect that, you know, some of that youth probably know the people in there, and it's not like it's you know, it it's kind of out of the ordinary. It provides them a place to maybe learn and upgrade and continue with their education. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I mean, that's a bit of mixing of my portfolios but no, we haven't looked into something like that. And the thing about corrections, it is very rigid. There are a lot of rules around how inmates are dealt with and, you know, I think the Member noted that he used to go there to visit his friends and I think if you're from the North and you go to a correctional facility, you're going to see someone you know, if not someone that you grew up with. And so it's not like these are full of people who are, you know, extremely dangerous. A lot of people have made bad choices. A lot of people have addictions issues. But that being said, the mixing of youth and adults is probably not something that would be looked into. But I'm very open to finding better uses for money we have allocated and facilities that already exist. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.
That's all. Thank you.
Thank you. Any further questions on corrections? Member for Monfwi.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, it's good to know that I would not have known that North Slave Correctional Centre for youth was not being used as much and it's good to know then the number is down, and until my colleague here said it. So is there any way that we can set up a program or to work with Indigenous government and to identify that, okay, the youth, the kids are not being sent to jail anymore so is there any way that we can find a program where we can keep them out of there and focus more on healing so getting them back into the society?
I know that there's lot of youth that are in crisis that needs help. So I'm just wondering what we can do with that correctional centre that's not being used as often and then maybe take that money and then put it somewhere else in the regions. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, and the issues we have are that we do need the facility, and we need it available at all times. And so it's not it's not a reliable venue to do other things because you never know when you're going to need it and when you're not. And the fixed costs associated with it are there regardless. So it's not something that really can be used in other ways.
And as to the question about, you know, keeping youth out of the facility and helping them down, you know, perhaps a better path, like, that's that's what Health does; that's what ECE does; that's what Housing does that's what we really all try to do but it's a little beyond the scope of the facility that we have for youth right now. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Monfwi.
Yeah, thank you.
Any further questions to the capital estimates for corrections? Seeing none. Justice, corrections, infrastructure investment, $1,480,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Thank you, Members. Please turn now back to the departmental summary. There we are. On page 55. Justice, 20222023 Capital Estimates, $1,480,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Does committee agree that consideration of the Department of Justice is now complete?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Thank you, Minister. SergeantatArms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.
I'll call Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, we will now return to the Department of Infrastructure.
Members, we have previously considered the activity summaries for the Department of Infrastructure. Please return now to the departmental summary found on page 46. Are there any questions, comments from committee? Seeing none, I will now call the departmental summary. Infrastructure, 20222023 Capital Estimates, $299,381,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Does the committee agree that consideration of the Department of Infrastructure is now complete?
Agreed.
Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I move that further consideration of Tabled Document 43719(2), Capital Estimates 20222023, be deferred. Thank you, Madam Chair.
The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.
Carried
Conclusion of consideration of Tabled Document 43719(2), capital estimates, will be deferred or 20222023 has been deferred.
Committee, we'll just take a short recess and get ready to consider Bill 36, an Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act.
Recess
I will now call Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, we've agreed to consider Bill 36, an Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act. I will ask the Minister of Justice to introduce the bill.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present Bill 36, an Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act.
Bill 36 proposes an amendment to the Territorial Court Act that would allow for more discretion in the appointment of a judge to the Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee. The function of the advisory committee is to make recommendations to the Commissioner and Executive Council respecting the appointment of territorial judges. The Territorial Court Act currently requires that the committee be comprised of the chief judge of the territorial court and the next most senior territorial judge, two members of the Law Society of the Northwest Territories appointed by that body, and four persons appointed by the Commissioner and Executive Council who are neither judges nor members or former members of a law society in Canada.
This is problematic because it may be impossible for the next most senior territorial judge to sit on the committee in the event of serious illness, disability, conflict of interest, or even planned vacation leave. This could affect the quorum of the committee and frustrate the committee's ability to complete its work in a timely fashion.
To address this issue, the proposed amendment will allow the chief judge, in consultation with the other judges, to appoint the additional judge to the committee without requiring the judge to be the next most senior territorial judge.
This concludes my opening remarks, and I would be pleased to answer any questions that Members may have regarding Bill 36. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?
Yes, I would.
Thank you. SergeantatArms, please escort the witnesses to the Chamber.
Minister of Justice, please introduce your witnesses for the record.
Thank you, Madam Chair. On your left, Madam Chair, we have Karin Taylor, acting assistant deputy minister, attorney general; and Christina Duffy, director, legislation division. Thank you.
Sorry, can you repeat the first...
Ms. Karin Taylor on your left, and on your right Ms. Christina Duffy.
Thank you. All right. So I will now open the floor to general comment on Bill 36. Members have ten minutes to speak to the bill each if they choose to do so. Questions? Does anybody want to speak to the bill? No? I see no comments.
Does committee agree to proceed to a clause by clause review of the bill?
Agreed.
Committee, we will defer the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses.
Please turn to page 1 of the bill. Clause 1, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 2, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Committee, to the bill as a whole, does committee agree that Bill 36, an Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act is now ready for third reading?
Agreed.
