The provincial government is investing over 11 million dollars in infrastructure projects to increase access to justice in the north.

 

Justice Minister Cliff Cullen announced that a majority of the funding will go towards renovating the Thompson Provincial Office Building and Court Offices.

 

Here, he explains when construction will begin.

 

“ We want to just finalize the actual drawings for the renovations. Those will go back to Treasury Board for final approval. The funding amount has been approved to date.”

 

“ We’re optimistic we can have that done in the very near future and then we can get to tender and, hopefully, we have some construction underway here within the next 12 to 24 months.”

 

The design work for the renovations will include an additional courtroom, more holding cells, and a separate waiting and interview area for victims and child witnesses.

 

Cullen talks about some of the renovation plans here.

 

“There’s space where there’s opportunity to add another courtroom here. We will be adding additional cell capacity, as well, for inmates and certainly increasing the area for administration, as well.”

 

“ So, a number of areas that we’re going to be improving. We think physically we’ll be able to move about the facility better and get better value for the space we do have.

 

The provincial government says it plans to increase security at the court office as well, including CCTV security cameras, x-ray machines, and walkthrough and hand-held metal detectors.