Justice committee  For obvious reasons I can't speak to advice that is or is not given to the minister. I can say that in terms of judicial appointments, the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs was established in part to administer the process for application and consideration, and it supports the process that has now been established for dealing with the Supreme Court of Canada nominations.

Justice committee  I believe statements have been made by either the minister or the Prime Minister indicating that advice was sought both inside and from outside experts.

Justice committee  I'm William Pentney, deputy minister of justice. I'm here with Marie-Josée Thivierge, who is our assistant deputy minister responsible for the management sector and chief financial officer; Carole Morency, senior general counsel and director general of criminal law policy; and Barbara Merriam, director general of our programs branch.

Justice committee  I was going to say, Mr. Chair, that I will go back to my office and call the Director of Public Prosecutions. I'm sure they would be pleased to provide a written explanation to the question. I'm happy to undertake that.

Justice committee  That is correct. There are two components to our programs. If there is a pull in that sense, an indication of an interest, and we work with the provinces, the provinces have...and we have had people in the field visiting communities, talking about these programs, trying to raise awareness.

Justice committee  Maybe I'll start with the last one, and then we will do a tag team on some of it. Aboriginal justice strategy funding and other funding is not just for first nations. We provide funding to Métis communities in Alberta and elsewhere and Inuit communities in the north and off reserve.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  Some of it counts for staff. I would say that over time we found that a number of employees left and took retirement, as an example, and didn't get any additional payment. A significant number we managed to place either within the department or another department, so in fact they don't get severance.

Justice committee  No. We could perhaps have an offline conversation about that. The funding for the aboriginal justice strategy has held relatively steady. The only change from last year to this year is that a little bit more money has been allocated to community programming and a little bit less money allocated to our internal administration.

Justice committee  My experience is that most of them are earning salaries that are not competitive with the salary we're going to pay the poor schlep we send to Paris.

Justice committee  I would say very accurate. I'll let Madame Thivierge give you the details.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  I think the Director of Public Prosecutions would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to provide that information. I can tell you, managing a set of offices in Ottawa, that sometimes moves are delayed; other things happen to shift things, but that's a relationship with Public Works.

Justice committee  The program for the Aboriginal people is projected over a five-year period. That is common in the federal system. We usually ask that sunset programs be renewed. The documents we submit to Parliament show how much money we have and the money that was approved. We are here today to request that the strategy be renewed for a year.

Justice committee  Perhaps I did not understand the question. This is not a new program. The same program is being renewed, extended.