The commission of inquiry into the wrongful conviction of David Milgaard wrapped up in December 2006 but the final report has yet to be released.

In fact, the provincial government recently dedicated another $360,000 to complete the report, being written by inquiry Commissioner Justice Edward MacCallum.

According to an order-in-council dated Feb. 28, the Milgaard inquiry report is part of $1.375 million in additional spending approved to cover Justice Ministry expenditures in the fiscal year ending March 31.

The money is earmarked for information technology, court-appointed legal counsel, Human Rights Commission inquiries (Milgaard and Neil Stonechild) as well as a handful of other matters.

Despite initial expectations the Milgaard report would be released in the fall of 2007, it is still a work in progress. MacCallum's job is to examine the murder investigation, the prosecution and whether the case should have been reopened in the years after the conviction. He has been reviewing evidence from the inquiry, which cost taxpayers $10 million. It lasted more than a year and a half and covered a 30-year span in an attempt to determine what went wrong and how to avoid similar miscarriages of justice in the future.

The hope is for the report to be released sometime this spring, said Candace Cook, spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice. But that could always change, she added.

When the legislature is not in session, Saskatchewan's Financial Administration Act gives the lieutenant-governor authority to approve an expenditure which is "urgently and immediately required for the public good."