Jackson Lafferty

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to be here to speak to Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Evidence Act. I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Social Programs for its review of this bill.

The Evidence Act defines the prohibitions relating to the use of evidence in actions that are brought before a court under the laws of the Northwest Territories. The current act contains provisions that allow for the creation of committees that play a role in the health care system in the Northwest Territories. These committees have the authority to study, investigate or evaluate the hospital practice or...

Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman.

Definitely that will be part of our discussion. We need to think of all the analysis that is out there. Having those individuals that are living with their parents that are working versus the ones that are looking after their grandparents or parents, those are the discussions that we need to have.

The income security framework, there was a review back in 2007. Out of the review we made some changes to reflect on the high cost of living in small, isolated communities and to provide more subsidies to those communities. On the side of that, we’ve looked at a seniors home fuel subsidy, as well, and over time we made some changes on the threshold as well. This is a policy area. We’re looking at this request that was made a couple of weeks ago on various aspects of where seniors have their grandchildren or children living with them but they’re at 90-plus years of age. That was a scenario they...

Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. To my left is Mike Reddy, policy and planning division, and to my right is Mr. Mark Aitken, director of legislation division.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to be here today to speak to Bill 14, An Act to Amend the Conflict of Interest Act. I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Social Programs for its review of this bill.

The Conflict of Interest Act defines the circumstances in which a council or board member is considered to be in a conflict of interest when participating in decisions of that council or board.

The current act automatically deems that a member has received a benefit -- what the act calls an “indirect pecuniary interest” -- in situations where the member is also an employee of the...

Mr. Chairman, there is Wrigley and also, of course, Gameti. They are still priorities for GNWT and the Justice department. We have invested resources to make that happen. Now we are just waiting for the federal government to do their part as infrastructure.

I can assure the Member and also the Members, that at every provincial/territorial/federal Ministers meeting this has been addressed at every table, Wrigley and Gameti. They are fully aware of it. Our understanding is that federal infrastructure is still part of the plan, but it has been backdated from what we have heard. We are looking at...

The funding that we provide, the $105,000 to YWCA, to my understanding there hasn’t been a request for an increase, but we can definitely look at this area. If there’s forced growth within the organization, then that’s an area we can look at as the Member is referring to. I can commit to looking at this area and how we can move forward. What we have now is the $105,000 that’s before us with the budget time frame. We’re moving ahead with this but I can commit to the Members that this is an area that we need to look at as we move forward.

Yes, Mr. Chairman. I have with me to my left Bronwyn Watters, deputy minister of Justice. To my right is Kim Schofield, director of finance for the Justice department.