Debates of January 21, 2004 (day 2)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today the Minister of Justice will have the pleasure of receiving my questions regarding my concerns with legal aid access when it comes to family law issues. Mr. Speaker, concerns have been brought forward to me by someone in my riding.

I've only recently learned that in fact if you are a person accused of a crime, you have the appointment of a lawyer immediately. However, Mr. Speaker, if you're a mother of two who is desperately struggling to put milk and butter on the table and attempting to get legal custody of your children and you need to make an application in order to get financial support, to request legal aid assistance you have to wait three to six months for your first appointment to start dealing with this tormented circumstance. Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister of Justice is does the Minister believe, in his opinion, that a three to six-month waiting period is reasonable access to justice for a first appointment to discuss this family law issue with a lawyer?

Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Return To Question 12-15(2): Access To Legal Aid For Family Law Matters

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would think that in the best of all worlds the wait would be considerably less than three to six months. It would be better if it could be only a couple of weeks, but the fact is that we can't find enough lawyers in the Northwest Territories to practice family law who are willing to take on these cases. The rate of pay for the Northwest Territories for legal aid lawyers is the second highest in Canada; only Nunavut is higher. But there are very few lawyers who are interested in taking on family law cases, and because of that there has been a growing backlog. We have increased the staff lawyer component to try and deal with this, but it is still a problem area that we recognize.

Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Supplementary To Question 12-15(2): Access To Legal Aid For Family Law Matters

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Minister, for your answer. Mr. Minister, my next question to you is what are you prepared to do in a reasonable sense to help assist with this access, so that people can access family law services much sooner? Is the Minister prepared today to reassure me that he will take steps so that all approved legal aid files will receive at least a first-base meeting within 30 days?

Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 12-15(2): Access To Legal Aid For Family Law Matters

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish I could make that promise, but as Minister I'm not allowed to provide any direction directly to the Legal Services Board because it is an independent body. The limits are the appointment and revocation of appointments of the members of that board. That's the only action that the Minister can provide, other than providing funding. I can tell you that we have not cut our funding to legal aid at all in the recent past. As I said, we have tried to increase the staff lawyer component to deal with the backlog. I've talked to the federal Minister of Justice within the last week. He committed to me that he would continue to fight for the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon to receive funding that is not tied to per capita so that we will continue to receive a disproportionate amount of funding and that we would see no cuts. But it's a situation where we are doing what we can, given the financial resources that we have to work with, and especially since we don't have enough lawyers who are willing to practice family law in the Northwest Territories.

Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Supplementary To Question 12-15(2): Access To Legal Aid For Family Law Matters

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do want to thank the Minister for pointing out the independence of the board. The independent board is very important. Although it cannot be overlooked, the board is also accountable to the Minister. Mr. Minister, can I get your commitment today that you would make statistical information available to the Members of this Assembly regarding typical workload breakdown of legal aid files within the system from where they start as they enter, to where they get their first meetings, and when they come to a relative close, and if you could tie this together with other regions in comparison to the Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Justice, Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 12-15(2): Access To Legal Aid For Family Law Matters

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that I could provide that information. I will check with the Legal Services Board and see how much statistical data they can provide to us and how quickly, and we'll endeavor to distribute that to all Members of the Assembly as soon as I can get it.