Jason Unrau
Northern News Services
Friday, February 16, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Plans to start construction on a new territorial courthouse in Yellowknife have been put on the backburner for at least two years as new schools and transportation needs have taken precedence in the 2007/2008 budget.

"You're not going to half-build a project," said Justice Minister Brendan Bell. "It's still on track but deferred for two years."

The GNWT has already put $4.16 million towards site surveys and architectural designs.

Construction on the courthouse to replace the current facility at Veterans Memorial Drive and 49th Street was supposed to start this fall and the total budget remains on the books at $41 million.

However, with construction costs across the NWT increasing, this price tag is expected to rise.

"Quite frankly I'm relieved," said Great Slave MLA Bill Braden. "It rankled people and has tested the Yellowknife-versus-all-the-other-NWT-communities dynamic."

Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya has been a staunch critic of building what he has referred to as a "Taj Mahal" courthouse.

In 2005, he questioned the need to spend $40 million, when Nunavut had spent less than $15 million on a new courthouse in Iqaluit.

Judges and lawyers have been lobbying the GNWT for a new building because the current facility is not big enough to handle the current caseload, required office space and inherent safety concerns.

Opened in 1978, the Yellowknife courthouse's capacity issues came to public attention following the imposition of occupancy limits in the summer of 2005.

Courtroom sizes, accommodating employees and guaranteeing their safety are issues Bell said need to be addressed, even in the current leased building.

"We were able to come up with some temporary solutions and in fairness to the judges they have given us a lot of leeway," said Bell.

"We do have to address space concerns immediately and we have limited ability in terms of our (2007) expenditures (so) I can't begin to say to the judges, bear with us here."