Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I have with me to my left, Mark Aitken, director of legislative division; and Gary McDougall, director of legal registries. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This particular incident, along with others in the Northwest Territories, is under RCMP “G” Division. They have their own federal jurisdiction laws that they have to follow, and what I can do as the Minister of Justice is to sit down and meet with the chief superintendent to highlight the concerns that are being addressed here today. I’m sure it’s been addressed within “G” Division already and I’m sure that there are processes being undertaken.

With that, I can pass on the concern that the Members have risen to the chief superintendent and discuss what action needs to be...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to be here today to speak to Bill 3, Electronic Transactions Act. I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Social Programs for its review of this bill.

Legal relationships have long been based on paper documentation, and most laws use language that refers to paper documents. Over the past generation, however, more and more people have begun communicating through the Internet and by e-mail. The result is that documents and information are now routinely shared electronically.

Mr. Chair, to some extent, courts have come to terms with technology: people have...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled, Aboriginal Student Achievement - A Status Report, May 2011.

Mahsi. Those are the same questions that have been addressed. I will commit to the Member that I’ll be working with the corporations, the Housing Corporation, also the Beaufort-Delta Department of Education as well, and Beaufort-Delta Board of Education. So we need to find solutions in these areas and support our teachers. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, what I can state in this House is that there are certain programs through the NWT Housing Corporation that each corporation can access. We’ve discussed this and it came from this Assembly, as well, that we need to deliver those subsidies to those corporations so they can build affordable housing. Yes, we support those teachers, very much so, and we know the students are successful because of those teachers. So we’ll continue to work interdepartmental; ECE, Housing Corporation along with the board operations, as well. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I did commit to the Member that we will be going to the school. I believe we’re working on a date with the Member to go into the community and also look at the particular school and the complex it is under. Working towards the next capital planning project, I will work with the Member and also the Members at large that this along with other projects, what are the priorities? What should come to us first? Those are the discussions that we need to have, as we do every year with the capital projects process. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I have Mark Aitken with me, the director of the legislation division within Justice.

Mr. Speaker, there are processes that we need to follow. As I stated, we have identified funds for technical upgrades and then having somebody, a consultant or departmental staff, going to the community to identify what’s needed and what’s the capacity. Right now, Mr. Speaker, the capacity is 48 percent utilized in the community. We have to look at that as well. Is it a space issue? Is it a building issue? The students, how many students are there? There are 16 students right now, Mr. Speaker. We’re talking about those specific matters and we need to highlight and analyze all those key areas...

Mr. Chair, the purpose of Bill 4, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2011, is to amend various statutes of the Northwest Territories for which minor changes are proposed or errors or inconsistencies have been identified.

Each amendment included in the bill had to meet the following criteria:

it must not be controversial;

it must not involve the spending of public funds;

it must not prejudicially affect rights; and

it must not create a new offence or subject a new class of persons to an existing offence.

The departments responsible for the various statutes being amended have reviewed and...