Inuvik (Nov 26/04) - Five jobs at Inuvik's Territorial Court Registry will be lost when the office closes its doors in April next year.

News of the cuts came as the Department of Justice announced more than $3.7 million in cost-saving measures.

In addition to the Inuvik office, Hay River's court registry, its remand centre and the Dene K'onia Young Offenders Facility will also be closed.

Workers at the Inuvik Territorial Court Registry say there could be other work for them offered by the Justice Department, in light of this fact, staff members would not comment to the matter further. According to Justice Minister Charles Dent, the closures could amount to almost $4 million in GNWT savings; approximately $350,000 worth from shutting down the town's court registry.

These belt tightening measures are part of a larger GNWT initiative to strike $20 million from next year's territorial operating budget.

"We are committed to working with these employees affected by the changes and have identified a number of vacant positions in the hopes that as many employees as possible can stay with the GNWT," he said.

The plan is to amalgamate the registry services previously provided in Hay River and Inuvik to Yellowknife's registry.

Over at the Inuvik RCMP detachment, Cpl. Merle Carpenter says, while he has not heard anything from the Department of Justice, he imagines it will be police business as usual.

"Though I can't say right now, I don't think the closure will affect us," he said.