Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier, I spoke about the complexity of our legal system, particularly in regards to family and civil law, and the difficulty that the members of the public have engaging with this system. This isn't the first time that I have raised this with the department. I have had a number of constituent issues that the Minister is aware about. I have brought this to their attention during our business planning process, and I have walked down the hall and sat with the Minister and his staff and discussed this. I don't think the government should provide everything to everyone, but, because it has an authority over the legal system, it must ensure that the system is accessible. It is already providing some good services that could be expanded to make the system much more accessible.
One of those is the Legal Aid Outreach clinic operated out of Yellowknife. The outreach lawyer offers up to three hours of advice to anyone who needs it and can act as a pathfinder to help people navigate the system. I personally think that this work is invaluable and should be expanded, but the government always wants data to back up their decisions, and I understand that the government has been collecting data to understand what outreach services are needed and what are being used. Could the Minister please give us an update as to the status of that work and when we can expect to see this data? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member opposite is quite correct. The outreach program has been a success. They have been visiting many of the communities, and a proposed policy for the outreach clinic has been drafted and will be going to the Legal Aid Commission in the coming months.
I can advise, however, that we are looking at the amount of use that the outreach clinic has, knowing that it needs to fill that gap between the legal aid programs that we have that provide assistance to those in criminal court and family matters and the private bar. We realize that there is a gap that does need to be filled.
I know it is being utilized by a lot of people, because, when people call to get an appointment to speak with the lawyer, it is usually quite far in advance. Not everyone, however, needs to speak with a lawyer necessarily, and the department has announced plans to make public legal education materials more available on its website. It also needs to do more work with things like a Facebook page for the Legal Aid Outreach clinic. What is the status of these efforts to get this information out there to the public and make it more accessible online?
There is no dedicated Facebook page at present, and, although that has been discussed by the department and communication staff, it's not an option immediately available. However, the outreach clinic will advertise on the GNWT Facebook page instead. In some ways, in my view, the best advertisement is the trips that the outreach clinic lawyer makes to the small communities, which I assume are well-advertised. We are bringing the law to the people.
If that is the best way to advertise, then I would like the Minister to advertise more and get the outreach worker out to the communities more. The reason that I talk about a Facebook page is because I wasn't aware that the Legal Aid Outreach clinic lawyer was coming to Hay River. I found out by happenstance. There was no Facebook page to advertise this.
We need to get this information out there so that we can inform people. If the best way to get the information out there is to have the lawyer travel to the communities, will the Minister commit to increasing the number of visits that the lawyer makes to the communities?
In the last number of years, the outreach lawyer has been to most of the communities, and I can advise as follows to the upcoming plans. There are community visits planned to Deline, March 4th; Tulita, March 5th; Fort Good Hope, March 6th; and Norman Wells, March 7th and 8th, with monthly community visits to Ndilo, Detah, and Behchoko to continue. The outreach clinic is proposing visits to Fort Smith, August 5th to 8th; the Inuvik region, August 27th to 13th; Fort McPherson, Tsiigehtchic, Inuvik, Tuktoyaktuk by road; Aklavik by air; and potentially, Fort Simpson and Fort Liard. There has been a lot of work in visiting the communities outside of Yellowknife. That will continue.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It sounds like there is not going to be anyone in the office to answer the phone when people call. Can we get a commitment from the Minister to look at hiring another lawyer to stay in the office while the other lawyer gets to travel around and engage with the community in person?
I can't commit to adding a second lawyer, as any additional resources would have to proceed through the budgetary process, but certainly we do want to look at the level of activity in the office. I am open to considering issues that, if the office is overworked or there is too much work, we may have to add staff. I will be open to that discussion, but again, it has to go through the budgetary process. Thank you.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
