Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 30/99) - Yellowknife is the best place for a territorial-wide correctional centre.

That was the message Minister of Justice Stephen Kakfwi consistently drilled home during a sometimes relentless attack by former Premier Don Morin.

Kakfwi said Yellowknife Correctional Centre (YCC) inmates are "now housed in substandard, inadequate, overcrowded facilities," and that the $30 million project for a new correctional centre is "urgent to do."

The decision to renovate the existing YCC and add a male young offenders' facility nearby was made in June 1998.

But when engineering and architectural firm Ferguson, Simek and Clark concluded it would be cheaper and faster to build a completely new building, the GNWT's Financial Management Board decided June 4, 1999 to go with the less expensive option.

About $1.3 million was deemed to be saved in capital costs with $262,000 saved in ongoing operations and maintenance.

"This government not only has a responsibility to keep its costs down but it also has a responsibility to look at economic diversity of the Northwest Territories," Morin said in the legislature.

"We cannot put all our money in Yellowknife for the simple reason that's the cheapest place to do it for now. We should also be looking at the South Slave."

After days of questioning from Morin, whose government presided over the initial decision to renovate the facility, Kakfwi set out some compelling reasons to build the prison in Yellowknife.

"The courts are located here," he said after mentioning Yellowknife's availability of health and support services.

"This is the central transportation hub for the communities."

Kakfwi also mentioned how Yellowknife is a more convenient spot for relatives to come to visit those incarcerated.

No date has been set yet to start building the new correctional centre, however, the GNWT has advertised in the southern media an expression of interest to attract contractors.