Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. You referred to page 281 which is part of the next section, services to government. If there's no further question on page 280, policing services, I'll call this section now and then we can move on and you'll be on the top of the list for the next section.
Agreed
I will call the page. Justice, policing services, operations expenditure summary, total activity, $44,729,000. Agreed?
Agreed
We'll now move on to services to government. We have the operations expenditure summary on page 282. We will first discuss the detail starting with page 283. Comments or questions on 283? Seeing none, we can move on to page 284. Do we have comments or questions on 284, active positions? Seeing none. Page 282, the operations expenditure summary. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you for putting me in order, Mr. Chairman, now I'll calmly ask what steps is the department taking to draft legislation for the office of the ombudsman? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Sebert.
Mr. Chair, the government is, of course, committed to filling the prior commitments developed in our mandate and is currently reviewing the feasibility of various options for establishing the office of the ombudsman. There are many different examples, and I know that in the last Assembly there was a good deal of time spent on this, and it may have been that there had even been some drafting. The department is developing a work plan which will establish timelines and deliverables relating this aspect of the mandate.
Now, the legislation, to a large extent, will be determined by our discussions in the summer because, as I mentioned, there are many different models. So after we have decided which model we're going to pursue it would seem to me that at that point legislation could be contemplated. I don't think there would be much point in working up legislation at this point as we're not certain which model we're going to pursue. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wonder if the Minister can please explain a little bit more about the work plan that he's referenced and what that-- you know, he says that it's going to consist of deliverables and a timeline. If he could elaborate on what Members can expect to see with regard to the work plan that would be appreciated. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister.
Mr. Chair, I wonder if I might have the deputy minister address the issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Haener.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are working on this initiative in collaboration with the Department of the Executive, and part of the work plan or the work plan we expect to cover items like the research on what is happening in other jurisdictions with ombudsmans and the models that are deployed there, the-- what the experience is in those other jurisdictions in terms of effectiveness. Obviously, aspects of the work would include consultation and engagement with folks here and with other stakeholders. Those are the types of things we would expect to see covered off in a work plan and timeframes would be developed to go in the work plan as well and frame out when we would expect different phases to be completed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Haener. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and that's great information; I appreciate that. I'm wondering if we could maybe get a timeline from the department on when we might see the work plan itself, or is that something that is even going to be shared with Members? The reason why I ask is I don't want to necessarily be a part of every step of this process but there was indication that there would be some consultation and public engagement and so I'm trying to get an understanding of when the work plan would be going through that process of public consultation and engagement. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister.
Mr. Chair, after the caucus meeting and the summer is over there could be a meeting between -- another meeting of Caucus to discuss just those next steps. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne. Nothing further from Mr. Vanthuyne. No one further on my list. Are there further comments or questions, services to government? Seeing none, I will call the total activity on page 282, services to government, operations expenditure summary, total activity, $13,361,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
We'll move on to page 286, services to public. We'll defer the total activity until we discuss the detail on page -- starting with page 287. Comments or questions on page 287, services to public, active positions. I'll give Committee a moment. Seeing none we can move back to page 286, services to public, operations expenditure summary. Do we have comments or questions on page 286? Ms. Green.
Sorry, this question relates to 286. May I ask it now?
To page 286? Yes, we're on page 286 now.
Okay, thank you for that. Earlier today, Mr. Chair, I spoke about the backlog of work in the public guardian's office, and the public trustee's office is in some ways a mirror image of the public guardian, and I'm wondering if the Public Trustee's Office is facing the avalanche of applications for service that the public guardian is? Specifically, they have 72 applications pending at this time. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Mr. Chair, we don't believe that the public trustee is facing the same avalanche of applications and I'm not aware of any particularly significant increase of activity. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Do I have further comments or questions on page 286? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Under legal registries, there's a reduction of over $100,000. Can someone from the department explain that? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Yes, Mr. Chair, I understand that one of the positions of document examiner has been eliminated. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Will this have any impact on -- or how will that improve access to justice? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Mr. Chair, we're not contemplating that that will have any effect on access to justice; I understand this is a registry position. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. So I'm sort of back to another question I had asked about how these reductions-- the impacts of these reductions are going to be monitored and tracked in terms of access to justice. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Mr. Chair, the department is always alive to this concern. We certainly don't see that position as having any effect on access to justice. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm just not quite still sure how the department is going to monitor this, but I don't think this is the place to follow it up. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Would the Minister like to respond?
Mr. Chair, only to say that we are aware of this issue and concern. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Do we have further comments or comments for page 286? Seeing none, I'll call the page. Justice, services to public, operations expenditure summary, total activity, $4,303,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
We have an information item on page 288, work performed on behalf of others. Does Committee have comments or questions on page 288? I'll give Committee a moment. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my question for the Minister is about the framework for enhancing Victim Services in the NWT. There appears to be no funding in this budget. Could the Minister describe what happened to the funding and whether there is funding available in some other pot to ensure that this victim service program continues?
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand that the program came to an end and we weren't in a position at this time to renegotiate this funding. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could the Minister please describe what this program did when it was running? Thank you.
