Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Madame Merriam is probably caught up in the security downstairs. She'll be along shortly. I'll start now, Mr. Chairman, since the committee is ready. I'd like to start with a brief introductory comment, which will be provided to the committee in bilin

Justice committee  Yes. There's a written document. It's probably on its way from security right now. I hope it will be distributed during the course of my remarks. If not, it will be distributed during the session.

Justice committee  Members of the Justice Committee, it is my pleasure to appear before you to answer questions regarding funding of Legal Aid. Joining me today is Barbara Merriam, acting Director General, Programs Branch from the department. Ms. Merriam has direct responsibility for a series of f

Justice committee  I haven't done the calculations, but close--

Justice committee  For six years that was interim funding provided to the provinces and territories on an annual basis. The government decided to make that interim amount permanent, in order to stabilize the funding, because from year to year they were never sure that interim money was permanent. N

Justice committee  The $30 million is included in the $44.3 million. There's $81.9 million in the main estimates, and that is already in the department's A-base or reference level. The $44.31 million that is in the supplements is being asked for in addition to the $81.9 million; $30 million of th

Justice committee  It's the same this year as last year.

Justice committee  I'll ask Ms. Merriam to explain that.

Justice committee  The federal government, in particular the Department of Justice, has been in consultation with the provinces and territories through the permanent working group I mentioned. Federal, provincial, and territorial ministers of justice discussed this issue both last year and this ye

Justice committee  We have to work within the confines of the budget. We do hear from the provinces that they would like more money. That's why we're working with them to assess their needs, in particular the needs they have indicated might arise from the enactment of new legislation. I want to be

Justice committee  The case you're referring to was a provincial prosecution, and provincial legal aid was responsible. So it was an issue between the Attorney General of Ontario and the legal aid plan of Ontario. It did not involve the federal government. But I think the broad issue you're referr

Justice committee  Thank you. Let me address the three issues. We apologize for not having full copies in both official languages. There were some changes made to the document this morning to ensure that it was accurate and clarified the situation. Accordingly, we were not able to have both an En

Justice committee  It's very short. I can basically describe it very briefly. In terms of the third question you asked, whether there are conditions to this money, no, there are no conditions to the money except that the money has to be used for legal aid. How is it expended by the province? Th

Justice committee  I have a list of the exact criteria used.

Justice committee  Mr. Chairman, I'm not sure that I do have that information, but I will undertake to see if we do. I believe that the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics does produce the expenditures for legal aid province by province. I'm not sure how comparable they are, because each provinc