Louis Sebert

Mr. Chair, I think we're all cognizant of the great contribution of special constables. In the past, it did seem to me, and I arrived in the North as that program was kind of coming to an end, that there were, however, not many of our Aboriginal citizens who were actually full-fledged members of the RCMP. That started changing. So I think they found the program to be less important than it had been previously. The Member's point is well taken. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Of course, we do have that in our mandate. And it has been of concern, both to the department and to members of the bar, that it has been extremely difficult to staff these positions outside of Yellowknife in the last number of years. So we do realize that it would be better in some ways to have clinics in various communities outside of Yellowknife, but it has become very expensive, difficult to staff, and that's why we're taking this approach to the clinic. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Certainly, Mr. Chair, I could commit to doing that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, I can commit to do that, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I understand that there are four persons involved. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, Mr. Chair, we could of course do that. They already do track files by location. I happened to notice amongst the statistical information provided to me that there was a 30 per cent decline in overall case load handled from Inuvik in fiscal year 201415 to 201516, so, obviously, the source of files can be tracked. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I know that there were efforts over time to reduce the costs, but in 2012-13 the Department of Justice in cooperation with the Law Society, as was mentioned by the Member, and the Law Library committee performed two comprehensive surveys of members of the bar to identify subscriptions that could be cancelled, so some were cancelled. Expenditures did drop in 2013-14 but then they jumped again by $47,000 in 2014 and $75,000 in 2015-16. The acquisition costs, and mainly here we're talking about subscriptions to services, continue to increase at a rate that bear no connection with the...

We would be prepared to do that, Mr. Chair, because we're always interested -- those are important investors, as was mentioned, in the resource centre, so we would be prepared to appear before Standing Committee to discuss the resource centre. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are committed to having community policing plans with all communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, of course, since there was only one lawyer practising, either in a clinic or privately up there, there was just the one lawyer, it was always necessary to, in family law cases, to have a lawyer representing the other side to be from Yellowknife, so, now that that lawyer has moved to Yellowknife, people will have to avail themselves of the service by telephone, at least initially. Thank you, Mr. Chair.