La Ronge in need of new courthouse

Wyant said in response, “We certainly have the courthouse on our radar; we know how important it is for the service of the North, so it’s something we’re actively looking at. I can’t prepare to make any comments on it in terms of timing. We certainly recognize the need for the courthouse, as you know I have been up to visit [La Ronge] and we’ve seen the facility, so we know how important it is and we’ll continue to investigate the possibilities of doing it at some point in time.”

Mayor Sierzycki said in an interview after SUMA, “Minister of Justice Gordon Wyant has been very good to work with. He’s listened to our concerns ongoing and has expressed that they are working towards a common plan for the needs across the province.”

He added with a tighter budget this year the town isn’t hopeful the courthouse will come anytime soon.

“However, the province does indicate that they will continue working with La Ronge to see a courthouse built in the near future. We're going to stay optimistic until that happens, we’ll continually lobby and friendly reminders that a courthouse is needed in the area,” Mayor Sierzycki said.

Linsay Rabyj, spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said the provincial government hasn’t speculated a time line just yet for when La Ronge will see a courthouse built.

“We absolutely recognize the need for a new building and building a new courthouse La Ronge still does remain a priority for the government. The designs and requirements for this project are complete, however due to competing capital projects, funding needs to be in place in order for this project to move ahead,” Rabyj said.

In the last 10 years the provincial government has constructed three new courthouses in Saskatchewan, one in Prince Albert, North Battleford and Meadow Lake and is currently doing extensive renovations to the Court of Queen’s Bench in Saskatoon.

But Mayor Sierzycki said the size is not there for the one in La Ronge in terms of security and as security legislation moves forward in different types of security, the old courthouse is slowly not meeting needs.

If there is a large trial there just isn’t enough room in the courthouse.

“As any infrastructure over time gets worse the need for a new building has been identified and there actually was a tentative report as well as a plan for a courthouse and it was put on the backburner. So as resources become available we hope that that will be a priority for the provincial government,” Mayor Sierzycki said.

There’s a big need for more space for judges, offices and there are some infrastructure issues Mayor Sierzycki has been told about.

“The building is just aging and it isn’t large enough for the magnitude of cases it does see, so that becomes a problem in itself,” Mayor Sierzycki said.

The current location wouldn’t be able to handle a larger facility and there’s no real room to expand, so a new location is needed.

Mayor Sierzycki said since 2006 there have been discussions on the new courthouse and there was even talk about placing a new building on a couple of locations in town.

“However, those locations were met with a little bit of opposition from community members. So instead of really being a proactive, and I do take some of the heat for La Ronge town council and of course some heat for the province, that we should have sat down and discussed some alternative areas because obviously property is important where a courthouse goes,” he said.

He explained a location wasn’t agreed upon and with royalties, the provincial budget and everything else, there’s always going to be more needs than money in the province and they do respect that.

His plan is to continuously remind the provincial government until the town gets the courthouse it needs and the town will continue looking at future plots of lands for where a new courthouse could go.

“All these are things that the council will feel the pressure of coming up with land, however it needs to be done and it’s councils responsibility, so hopefully we can get a good plan in place very shortly to try and at least have an area where if the province does come to the table we can provide everything we need to do in terms of basic infrastructure so that this can go ahead.”

Mayor Sierzycki said the town has a good working relationship with the provincial government, but that it’s his job to make sure they are reminding province of the town’s needs, whether it’s a question at SUMA, through a letter campaign, a text message or a phone call.

“I officially would like to see a [courthouse] by 2015/2016 and that gives a few years of in term planning to get the project done. But of course the sooner the better and if there’s anything the municipality does we have stated to the provincial government we’re ready to work as a partner,” Mayor Sierzycki finished.

swallace@panow.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow

by Sarah Wallace

La Ronge in need of new courthouse

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