R.J. Simpson

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member from Yellowknife South, that the motion be postponed to Thursday, February 22nd, 2024. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This decision was made by me as Attorney General in the last government. The Attorney General makes decisions in a way that is apolitical. There is no desire to put a political lens on these decisions. What was in question was a very specific legal question. It wasn't we weren't fighting any Indigenous governments. We weren't on side with the provinces. The reason that I intervened in that case is because there was specific language in that federal Act that we needed clarity on in relation to how it interacted with the NWT Act. That's not an issue for any of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize the chiefs as the Premier, so I'd like to recognize Chief Betsina and Chief Sangris. We always appreciate when they show up in the House, and I look forward to continuing to work with them over the next four years. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following eight documents: Northwest Territories Coroner Service 2022 Annual Report; 34th Annual Report 20222023 Victims Assistance Committee of the Northwest Territories; Administration of the Northwest Territories Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act Annual Report 20222023; Department of Justice Corrections Service Annual Report 20222023; Northwest Territories Law Foundation 40th Annual Report for the Period Ending June 30, 2022; Legal Aid Commission of the Northwest Territories Annual Report 20222023; Annual Report on the Activities of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We were happy to see that the decision was in line with the principles that we are already upholding, so we will continue to do what we're doing. Thank you.

Thank you. There is a statutory requirement in the act to conclude the review within 18 months of the start of the 20th Assembly. So it must be done before the summer of 2025. Hopefully sooner, but that remains to be seen depending on what the priorities of this Assembly wind up being. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the access privacy office has seen an increase in requests and an increase in the complexity of those requests. I'm not sure if there's a huge public demand. It's a relatively small group of people that are being served by that office. There's companies, there's lawyers, there's individuals who are requesting documents that, you know, end up being tens of thousands or thousands of pages. Every single one of those pages has to be found, discovered by someone in say, for example, MACA, who has two people working fulltime to fill these requests for a very very very...

Working on it, Mr. Speaker. There's a lot of voices in the room so it's taking some time, but we'll get there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, there needs to be some relief for the staff and this process needs to be one that is doable and achievable. And so based on that review, we'll make a decision about which direction we go. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that setting some more reasonable timelines is on the table. So we'll be looking at everything, including the timelines. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm confident that the timeliness will improve. I'm not sure if the issue at large will be corrected. Across Canada, governments are struggling to fulfill these ATIP requests. Because of the parameters around them, they're very labour intensive. They take a lot of resources. And I recall conversations back in the 18th Assembly when this legislation was being considered, and we really shot for the moon. I was on the standing committee with the Member from Range Lake that is back then it was Kam Lake and, you know, we did push for these tight timelines and we got them...