Inuvik (Jan 31/05) - Court registry workers in Hay River and Inuvik finally had something to smile about last week as Justice Minister and Attorney General Charles Dent announced Monday that the once-doomed court registries in Inuvik and Hay River will remain open.

Public outrage most certainly played a role in reversing the controversial decision to close certain Department of Justice services in the NWT, though others remain on the chopping block.

"Clearly the level of public discussions around this and the impact of the loss of jobs in Inuvik and Hay River have come into play," Dent said.

"We have taken this action after carefully considering the concerns expressed in both Hay River and Inuvik."

The government will provide $700,000 in this year's budget to keep the registries open, Dent said, noting the extra money will not result in cuts elsewhere.

"Basically it's an increase to expenditures."

The potential impact of the loss of services in the regions and the feeling that the decision to house the registry solely in Yellowknife ran contrary to the GNWT's decentralization policy also affected the decision, Dent said.

He noted that Hay River's Dene K'onia young offenders facility and the remand facility at the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre will still be closed down as originally announced.

Marjorie Whiting, a court clerk in Hay River, said she is pleased with the government's reversal on closure of the court registries.

Whiting believes public opposition played a major role in the government's change of heart.

Another Hay River court clerk, Sheila Ryan-Hachey, said the relief of the court registry workers is tempered by the fact that Dene K'onia and the remand centre are still closing.

"That's the greater number of positions lost from Hay River," Ryan-Hachey said.

The closure of Dene K'onia will mean the loss of 15.5 full-time positions and 10-12 casual positions.

Closure of the Hay River Court Registry would have cut a further seven positions.

Six positions would have been eliminated by the closure of the Inuvik registry.

Dent said it is hard to say what kind of impact was made by public opposition to the cuts.

"The other MLAs had heard the concerns of the regions," he noted. "Obviously, we don't operate in a vacuum."

Dene K'onia closing

As for Dene K'onia and the remand centre, Dent said it is difficult to see how those closures could be changed at this point, though the budget still has to be approved by the Legislative Assembly.

The closure of Dene K'onia and the remand centre will save nearly $2 million.

No layoffs will occur at the closed remand facility as five staff members will be absorbed by the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre.

The GNWT plans to cut a total of $20 million from this year's budget.

Kelvin Yee, regional vice president for the Union of Northern Workers, said it's great the court registry employees are going to keep their jobs. "But of course, that's not enough," Yee added. "We want to keep Dene K'onia and the remand centre open. We will continue the fight to keep them open."

Hay River South MLA Jane Groenewegen has agreed to stand behind the fight for Dene K'onia and the remand centre.

However, she said the future of the youth facility may involve discussions with the Department of Health and Social Services about alternative uses.

Regional community justice coordinators will also be eliminated, it was announced.

"In the long run I'm hoping this isn't a significant loss," Dent said.

Part of the co-ordinators' job was to set up community justice committees throughout the NWT, and committees now exist in 30 of 33 communities.

"So what we're doing is we're only giving back to the finance minister 50 per cent of what we save. The other 50 per cent is going to be made available to the community justice committees," said Dent.

That amounts to an extra $237,000 a year.

The loss of the regional co-ordinator will have an impact, Inuvik community justice c-ordinator Howie Young said, although the position hasn't been staffed in Inuvik for three months.

There was one potential benefit, though, he added. "I believe they've talked about a goal to free up money to reinvest in programs on a local level."