Yes, I am. I was expecting this question, actually. We have issued a tender for construction of a temporary resource centre on the fourth floor, and we are hoping that that will be open by April of this year, depending on the tender results. It is important to realize that the current library is still open. Access to it is a little difficult, but I think that most lawyers have a fob, and the general public, I think, can access it through a request to court services. When I walk by the library, usually there are no lights on, so I don't think there's much usage. I think there has been one request by the public. One person requested twice. Thank you.
Thank you. Nothing further from Mr. O'Reilly. Justice, court services, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $13,646,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Moving on to legal aid services, beginning on page 287. Comments or questions? Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute issued its second annual report on access to justice yesterday. One of its findings related to the NWT was low criminal aid spending per 1,000 crimes. That resulted in a grade of D, and last year's grade was D. I'm wondering what the Minister makes of this ranking. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I haven't had a chance to review the report as it just came out very recently. I know last year we had concerns with the methodology involved, which I understand likely is also a concern this year. I do know that we have one of the most comprehensive legal aid plans in North America. We cover a great number of matters that are not covered elsewhere. That might skew the statistics somewhat. I think Mr. Goldney has some additional information though, and I'd ask if I might defer the rest of the answer to him. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Goldney.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We're still analyzing the report card received from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, but I think the Minister is quite right. What appears to be the case, and again it will require further study, is that we seem to be penalized for spending less per capita but not being recognized for some of the contextual reasons why that might be. We suspect, although we have to look at this, that a great majority of our criminal matters relate to property crimes of a lesser value that might not be covered in other jurisdictions in the same way that it is here. It seems likely that might skew the average down. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I appreciate that the 2017 report came out this week, and so I will just say to the Minister that I'll come back to this before the end of the session. One of the things I did wonder about, though, with service levels is how long the wait is to see a legal aid commission lawyer for someone who is looking for that service. What's the waiting time? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Certainly, the waiting list for a criminal is not particularly long because we have a system going and people going to court generally are considered presumed eligible, so they will have access to legal aid early.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a couple of questions that follow on from that answer, which I appreciate. The first is: what is the definition of "urgent" in this context? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
It could be something such as a child protection matter or something like that that would require urgent intervention by the courts. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for that answer. My next question is: if three months is too long of a waiting list, and I agree that it is, it's a long time to wait, then what would be an acceptable waiting time? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
I mean, I was speaking of the average wait times. Obviously, we would like to reduce it as much as possible. I would say, if we got it down to somewhere in the area of six weeks, that would be pretty reasonable. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Given that the complement of family law practitioners is now at full strength, how long do you think it will take to reduce the waiting time to six weeks? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Six weeks is of course a target, and turnover amongst the lawyers is always an issue, but I would hope within the next few months we would be able to continue to reduce the wait time. Thank you.
Ms. Green.
I'd like to thank the witnesses for their responses. Nothing further.
Thank you. Further for legal aid services? Justice, legal aid services, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $6,241,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Continuing on. Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operations. Comments or questions? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Can someone at the table tell us a little bit about what level of activity the office of the regulator is dealing with and whether that's changed over the last few years, given that there is not much happening with oil and gas? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't think there's any dramatic change in their level of activity over the last year or two. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, maybe they are still busy. I don't know. It seems to me that there would be less activity that they have to regulate because there's no active exploration. There's no production that's happened in the last year. Can the Minister confirm or tell us about the level of activity that these folks actually have to regulate? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
I know that, as of January 25, the regulator is in issue 20 operating licence for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. Again, I don't know the long, long history of this. Well, I guess it doesn't have that long a history, but I don't think we have heard from them that they require more resources at this time. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
I just wonder whether they could use less resources, given that there doesn't seem to be a lot of activity happening. So is that something that the department has looked at? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand there has been a reduction in their use of contractors as they build their own capacity. I don't think the Member really would want us to cut down the funds we're supplying to OROGO. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm not trying to tell the Minister what to do, but the Minister seems to find other areas to cut within the department, and this is one where there may not be a lot of activity going on, so I'm just wondering. There has been no change to their budget from last year. Can the Minister commit to having the regulator maybe appear before standing committee so that we can just learn a little bit more about what they do? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Yes. As I say, as I mentioned earlier, what they have been doing is building capacity in this somewhat-less busy time, but perhaps I could ask the regulator or, rather, the executive director to appear in front the committee. Yes, I can do that.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, just to close this off, I wonder whether the executive director could appear before the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment, rather than the Standing Committee on Social Development, where this seems to be parked. Is that possible? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you. Yes. That seems sensible.
Thank you. Nothing further from Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. McNeely.
