R.J. Simpson

Thank you. With me, I have deputy minister of the Department of Justice, Charlene Doolittle. As well as James Bancroft, the director of corporate services. Thank you.

Thank you. So when you're a territorial judge, you travel the whole territory; you hear cases across the territory. And so if the judges would want to set up in Hay River, then we can have that discussion. But it's currently up to the courts to make that determination. Thank you.

Thank you. So during COVID, a number of communities had difficulty spending their funds. So that could be the reason for the surpluses that the Member is talking about but we do offer the opportunity to carry that over if they are unspent. Thank you.

I'll hand it to the deputy minister. Thanks.

Thank you. So what the Member I believe is referencing is the integrated case management program. I couldn't recall if he said ISD or ICM. But integrated service delivery is an approach to delivering services. Integrative case management is supposed to be an integrated way to work with people who are accessing a number of different government services. It has essentially turned into a siloed program on its own, not necessarily integrated with the other programs or other services. And so we are working with other departments, having some highlevel discussions about what we want to do going...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present the Department of Justice’s main estimates for the fiscal year 20232024. Overall, the department's estimates propose an increase of $8.5 million or 6.2 per cent over the 20222023 Main Estimates. These estimates support the mandate objectives while continuing to meet the GNWT's fiscal objectives to prioritize responsible and strategic spending.

Highlights of the proposed main estimates include:

Forced Growth funding totaling $6.2 million of which $56,000 is increased funding available to essential partners impacted by rising inflation. The remaining...

Thank you. I believe the full staff complement is eight. I believe there are five court workers, and those are I believe those are fully staffed. Or sorry, court officers. I've used the incorrect term for a couple of our positions. So I can hand it to Mr. Bancroft for some more detail on that. Thanks.

Thank you. And so earlier I stated there was no increase or decrease. There is a $5,000 increase to this line item due to our support for NGOs or organizations who are facing inflationary pressures. The one agreement that will be expiring is for $12,000, and so that $12,000 plus the $5,000 that $17,000 that will be available for an organization to apply for to provide some of these programming. I know it's not a lot, but we are trying to get every penny out the door.

So the program used to be when this fund funded A New Day program, that was exclusive to Yellowknife essentially. So we have...

Thank you. I couldn't get away with it, hey? It's services to government.

Thank you. And members of the public can always call the local detachment and provide information, a tip. If they are concerned about that, they can also call Crime Stoppers, and that can be anonymous as well. Thank you.