R.J. Simpson

I'd hand it to Mr. Bancroft for that information. Thank you.

Thank you. So the drop in numbers is due to a number of changes to the Criminal Code and decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada that changed the rules around bail and remanding prisoners. We used to have significantly more remanded inmates in the facilities. That is one of the issues. Perhaps I can hand it to the deputy minister for some more detail on this. Thank you.

Thank you. So if someone qualifies for legal aid, then the Legal Aid Commission, if they don't have staff lawyers, can contract outside lawyers. So we haven't been looking at increases in legal aid. And as well, many of these individuals who are coming up from the south don't access -- who are arrested for these drug crimes don't access our legal aid. They have high-priced lawyers in major centres. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize my former colleague and current friend, former Minister Pauline Chinna. She always created a lively atmosphere in Cabinet, and we miss her. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will hand it to the director. Thank you.

Thank you. So the facility is -- as I stated, the capacity of the correctional system far exceeds the need and so -- I mean, we could have infrastructure improvements to the building, but the fact remains that we have excess capacity. And that's in all of our facilities. You know, we have one or two or three women in the women's facility, and I believe the capacity there is 24. We have between one and two and three individuals in the youth facility, and the capacity there is significantly higher than that, at least a couple dozen if not more than that. And so to repurpose the correctional...

Thank you. So the Member stated that, you know, we need some short-term solutions to deal with the situation we're facing now. And so the focus -- my focus has been on supporting the RCMP, getting more resources to the territory in terms of RCMP and legislative tools for the RCMP, and working with them in any way we can to ensure that they can kick down doors when they need to, and they did deter criminals from coming up here, and then they can just disrupt the life of drug dealers. And so that has been the focus. As I've said, going forward we do need to look at the long term -- the long term...

Thank you. I appreciate those comments. I look forward to the Members on this. Thanks.

Thank you. So when we integrate services, we integrate them from all departments, and so the money that the Member's referring to exists in health's budget, in housing's budget. Perhaps the deputy minister can provide a bit more detail. Thank you.

Sure, I won't comment. I believe that's in the previous section so I'll just I don't want to the puck drops in about an hour so I don't want to take up too much time with going back. Thank you.