Kieron Testart

Thank you. Given that, can the Minister relay what their feedback was on this issue? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Why was that information not provided to committee? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am hoping the Minister can provide some detail on something that occurred during the course of our review of the bill. The committee, as announced in its report, received a letter from the Minister from the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association to the Department of Justice's assistant deputy minister outlining the insurance industry's views on prohibiting discrimination on the basis of genetic characteristics. The committee understood at that time that this letter was, in fact, solicited by the Department of Justice. Can the Minister confirm if that is true...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Human Rights Commission develop an evaluation framework for assessing the efficacy of moving to a restorative process, which includes in its methodology a gender-based analysis and an assessment of the impacts on Indigenous people, and further, that the findings of this review be tabled in the Legislative Assembly in the first sitting following April 1, 2021, at which time the amendments to the Human Rights Act made by Bill 30 will be fully implemented. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Committee would like to consider Committee Report 15-18(3), Report on the Review of Bill 30, an Act to Amend the Human Rights Act, and Bill 30, An Act to Amend the Human Rights Act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I assume, once we have these private retail stores, we'll get a better sense of the consumer base out there. Many people have commented to me on the somewhat absurd situation where we will have private cannabis stores before we have private liquor retail stores. Is the department willing to consider the example they're setting by privatizing cannabis retail to extend that to alcohol? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the chair rise and report progress. Thank you.

That explanation is greatly appreciated and, again, sometimes investors are looking at these changes and don't quite understand them, so I appreciate the Minister coming forward with that information. To my knowledge, there are around 20 applications in. How many retail opportunities is the GNWT considering through their assessment so far? Are we looking at multiple stores in Yellowknife? Are we looking at single stores in Inuvik, where they do not have a cannabis retail outlet? Can the Minister provide any new content to that point?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This amendment amends the preamble to the act to address genetic characteristics as a prohibited grounds. It is not a substantive clause, as it is a perambulatory clause. However, any subsequent amendments to address this issue are going to require it. I will speak to just the general principles of why banning genetic discrimination is a fundamental concern that has been raised over the course of standing committee's review of the bill and has been discussed and debated closely by Members.

As the Minister noted in his opening comments, the Human Rights Commission undertook...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to introduce two Pages from the Kam Lake riding, Ms. Katrina Butt and Ms. Belinda Formaniuk. It is great to have them in the Chamber helping us out, and all of the Pages. The youth are our future, and it is great to see them taking an interest on our procedures. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.