David Ramsay

All the clinics are located in Yellowknife with the exception of the Beaufort-Delta Legal Aid Clinic.

From what I’m getting from the Member’s questioning, he would almost see the department as policing recommendations that fall out of a coroner’s report. The department is not in a position to police other government departments that would be excited in recommendations of the coroner’s report. That’s not something that we do and I don’t know if it’s something we would ever anticipate doing.

I do know that there’s going to be some legislative changes to the Corner’s Act coming up. I’m not sure if it’s going to end up happening in the life of this government, but certainly that will be coming...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That is something that we could look into. Given the nature of the facilities that we operate, the corrections facilities that we operate, the requirement for relief workers is there. That’s something that is real for us.

In terms of reporting it, that’s something I will talk to the officials about and we’ll see if there’s a better way to report that and show that relief worker number. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are really no additional services. It’s a variety of items that cause the increase to that line item.

Thank you. We will get the Member some information on that, and again, to our knowledge, there is a pretty quick turnaround and it is one of the best turnaround times in the country as far as court services go. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can get that level of detail for the Member. In regard to will and estate planning in the communities, we did hire a new lawyer in August of 2010. We do have a Community Outreach Program at the Department of Justice. We’ve been to all communities in the Northwest Territories with the exception of, I believe, three. In January we were again in Wrigley, Fort Simpson, Gameti and Fort Smith. When this Outreach Program is in the communities, anything that community members want to raise through that program is available to them. That includes will and estate planning for...

Mr. Chairman, we will find out for the Member and the House. Thank you.

The staff lawyers that we do have, the 15 positions that I spoke of earlier, as they’re doing their job and interacting with the clientele, if they have issues or feel we should be looking at resourcing things in a different manner or doing things differently, they would bring that up to management. It would end up going to the Legal Services Board and we could make some decisions from there through the Legal Services Board. That’s currently how that’s handled and it’s an ongoing process, so as situations arise.

I should also mention that all of the positions that we have are currently fully...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The office of the coroner is a separate entity. If we looked at formalizing, you know, it is the coroner’s reports and instructions to government, and to formalize that in some different fashion would change the role of the coroner’s office and that is a pretty big discussion to be having, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

It’s almost impossible to answer that question because some positions are vacant for a month, others are vacant for two months. You have to bring in casuals at some point to carry out the duties of those positions on a case-by-case basis. It is not something that you can just put a number at and say this is that. We have a department to run and we’re always filling positions as they come up. That number is going to change, as is the number that’s there. It’s not a static number. It’s something that’s constantly changing. Thank you.