Thank you. Deputy Minister Doolittle.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We do have the 30 communities as mentioned that offer restorative justice programs and have active justice coordinators and/or community justice committees. I do take the point and understand the Member's point that volunteers in communities are often overtaxed with volunteering in the community. There will be some regular turnover and, perhaps, burnout, but communities, as we all know, stand up and volunteer quite heavily for their communities. We work with them to support them and do that. We do have 30. I understand that they are up and running, and we are working with the remaining three communities to try to support them to move in that direction. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for that response. In this line item, too, it also mentions community justice committees and projects. Can the Minister just highlight some of the projects that are ongoing within this line item? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you. I would ask the deputy minister.
Deputy Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We have received incremental funding under the Indigenous Justice Program for 2021. Some of those programs will be purchasing laptops to develop delivery of a series of web services to justice coordinators and their committee members, so some training there and easier to do it in the current situation that we are in. We have some money for a pilot program for the development of a restorative process to address intimate partner violence, as well as the development of case management software for community justice program to improve their data collection. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for the response. It's just good to hear some of the proactive stuff we need, too. A lot of our Justice initiatives are, I want to say, kneejerk, but a lot of it is reactive. It's good to see some of the proactive projects like this happen with the department. I did have one other question here, too, just moving on to this other line item, victims assistance support projects. Can the Minister just briefly describe what that line item covers? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you. Perhaps I can ask the deputy minister for detail on that.
Thank you. Deputy Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Victim services contribution.
Thank you. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess it was kind of misleading, the way I read it, but that's good. Thank you for that response. I don't have anything further at this time. Thank you.
Thank you. Are there any other Members who have questions under community justice and policing? Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I just want to add my voice to the call for more resources for victim services. I raised this in the last Assembly, the Minister knows well. I pushed his predecessor to conduct a review. The review was done. I think it was done well. The report of the evaluation, though, is dated April 30, 2020, so the department has now had it for almost 10 months. I really want to urge the Minister to work with his staff to get the departmental response. I know the evaluation report came in during the pandemic, but I really want to encourage that the department develop a full response, a costed one was mentioned by the deputy minister, and get the resources for the people who carry out that really critical service. Please move it forward. I'm happy to consider a supplementary appropriate, if necessary, but those people do completely thankless work, and we need to resource that service properly. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you. I had this discussion with the department very soon after I took this file. I think the Member knows that I like costed plans with timelines, and so I've asked the department to go ahead and do that work. We hope to have something in the near future. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
No. Thanks, Madam Chair, and thanks to the Minister and his staff. I'll probably be asking about the status of it in May/June, so just a little head's up. Thank you. That's all I've got. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. On page 276, community justice committees and projects. What percentage of that money stays in Yellowknife, and what percentage goes to the communities? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you. I think Ms. Bolstad might have that breakdown. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Bolstad.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The Yellowknife contribution from that is $129,000. The remainder goes to communities. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That's good to see, that we've got a good amount of money going out to the communities. With respect to the projects, is there anything specific that works better than anything else in there? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you. Every community is different, and I think that's why we have this money distributed, because it's up to the communities to identify. Perhaps I can ask the deputy minister to provide some insight, as well.
Thank you. Deputy Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That's exactly correct. Each community, based on their own needs, will develop their own programming, but some of the programs that they do, of course, are diversions, very important; they support community service options; and then, crime prevention programs specific to their community needs. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. With respect to victims assistance support projects, what percentage of that stays in Yellowknife and what percentage goes out to communities? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you. Ms. Bolstad can answer.
Thank you. Ms. Bolstad.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Of that amount, $220,000 goes to Yellowknife-based victim services workers. The remainder goes out to our other victim services organizations. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Hay River South.
That will be all for now. Thank you.
Thank you. Are there any further questions under community justice and policing? Seeing none, please turn to page 275. Justice, community justice and policing, operations expenditure summary, 2021-2022 Main Estimates, $5,990,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will now turn to corrections, beginning on page 278, with information items on 281. Questions to corrections? Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I just get an update on when we expect the Corrections Act to be implemented?
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you. We're aiming for this summer.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm glad to hear we're still on track. I look forward to that. I note there is not a huge increase in the corrections budget. Can I get an update on whether we expect an increase to corrections, both with bringing in the new Corrections Act, which requires a number of changes to the system, as well as bringing online the therapeutic model? I'm just wondering how we expect to do both of those things with the same budget. Thank you, Madam Chair.
