Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I think this is in need of a review. And, you know, I like the idea of getting as many community ones as possible and, you know, for some of the smaller liquor infractions or probation infractions, please divert them, do it at the community level. But I'll note most jurisdictions have some sort of higher up diversion. You know, Alberta alternative justice, where you can refer someone from anywhere in the province and they run, you know, weeks ontheland programming. They run really elaborate diversion programming that I just don't think any one of our one community...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Does the Minister have an update on whether all of our community justice committees are up and operating? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I get a bit of an explanation as to what the internet child exploitation unit is? I see there's $390,000. Are those officers that would be located in the Northwest Territories, or is this a contribution a federal kind of level? Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke earlier that we lost the wage topup program which brought many workers up to $18 an hour, and then I think this year we are going to see one of the highest inflations Canadians have seen in years, and the cost of living is not getting any cheaper in the North. I just worry that, you know, we in the NWT are heading down a path where making a living wage is just getting harder and harder for other people.

Can the Minister speak to what plans the department has to ensure that NWT workers are making a decent wage that, you know, keeps the pace of the cost of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think we're all the eagerly awaiting to see the size of that bill.

There's $809,000 here for increased housing costs for RCMP members. Can I just get an explanation of whether that's money that then goes to the Housing Corp because they built those RCMP units, or is this a different housing cost? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last minimum wage report was never made public, and I understand the Minister's position and he told the committee that the work they would do would remain confidential. But I understand that we're now looking at reviewing the minimum wage again. And I just don't want to be standing here at that time asking that question once again.

So can the Minister speak to what the process is going forward for the next minimum wage review? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can the there's a number here, other adjustments including $1.8 million, mainly for collective agreement increases. Can the Minister just provide how much the RCMP's collective agreement increases were specifically?

No further questions. I'll bring it up another time. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe right now, according to my count, there's four lawyers in the territory who don't live in Yellowknife and one of them is a Member of this House.

Have we looked into I know we have some positions that work for legal aid in the communities. None of them are lawyers. Have we looked into the feasibility of moving one of the legal aid clinics outside of Yellowknife? I'm a believer that access to justice requires lawyers in places even, you know, just to have someone to talk to in a community. And is that something that the department has reviewed? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I'm going to ask a couple questions about leasing.

I understand that due to both a Cabinetlevel policy and a public accounting standard that we only enter into leases of less than five years, because after five years they tend to be a tangible or a capital lease which would then be recorded as a liability and go up against our debt ceiling. You know, seeing that there's $134 million in lease commitments here, we don't even have that room in our debt ceiling. So we can't enter into longterm leases.

Can I just get a sense from the department to the extent that that...