Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Chairman, An underlying theme throughout the Commissioner’s report and presentation to the committee was the need to foster a corporate culture that is committed to open and transparent government and strives to follow the spirit as well as the letter of the act. The Commissioner points to a trend of public bodies automatically refusing access to information wherever they have a discretionary exemption under the act, without evaluating whether there are clear and compelling reasons to do so. She is concerned that public bodies, and in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this year I talked about the need for citizen judges here in the Northwest Territories. In Yellowknife there’s an annual tradition; on July 1st we have new Canadians sworn in, but through further investigation I found out that there are only 19 citizenship judges across Canada and recently I found out that we won’t be having our citizenship ceremony here on July 1st, which has become quite a tradition here in Yellowknife. I’d like to know what the Minister is doing to investigate this problem about us not having swearing in ceremonies July 1st. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recognizing the difficulty of getting a citizenship judge here in the Northwest Territories, I approached the concept of getting our honourable Commissioner to become one of the citizenship ceremony officials. I approached honourable Whitford and he liked the idea. I brought his name forward to the department and I see Minister Dent has written a letter in support to our federal Minister, Monte Solberg. Again, recognizing the problem that I’ve got and the information from the MP’s office, which is they will not be holding a citizenship ceremony, could I get the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement was about the denial of what I would call natural justice. I have called into question a regulation that is in writing that our bureaucrats are following. Mr. Speaker, just because it is in writing, it doesn’t make it morally correct. Could the Minister of EC and E explain to this House today and the public that is listening about the fairness of the policy where, at no fault of the client, they have been denied their rightful support payments? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess there are a couple of ways I can approach this. The first option is to let him know that he got an e-mail from his constituent that I was sent to, as well, so I'm surprised he wouldn't know about the regulations, referring to that e-mail and this problem about the lack of retro pay. So that being said, maybe I can, as an olive branch approach, maybe we can take the Minister up on his offer. I'll bring the matter to his office if he's willing today to look into it further and deal with this problem. That will be all. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Finally, I would like to seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 93(4) and have Committee Report 2-15(5) moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration on Friday, June 2, 2006. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In April 2004, the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight held a two-day operational planning workshop to review its mandate and set its priorities and objectives for the 15th Assembly. These plans were shared with our colleagues and the public in our first Report on Priorities and Objectives, which we presented to the Legislative Assembly on June 1, 2004.

The committee held its second operational and strategic planning workshop in Tuktoyaktuk from April 15 to 17, 2005, at which time we reviewed progress made to date on our priorities and objectives. A...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight met on May 2, 2006, to review the 2004-2005 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. The committee would like to thank the Commissioner, Ms. Elaine Keenan-Bengts, for her report and for her appearance before the committee.

The NWT’s Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (ATIPP) came into force on December 31, 1996. The purpose of the act is to make public bodies more accountable and to protect personal privacy by giving the public a right of access, with limited exceptions, to records...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Committee Report 2-15(5) be received by the Assembly and moved into Committee of the whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to speak today on the exclusion of retroactive payments in income support programs and what I see as an oversight by these social assistance regulations. This issue is not the appeal process or the work done in the area by your dedicated civil servants, but rather a misstep in our policy.

Full confidence in the service being provided to the public requires diligence on the part of the government to see logical lapses corrected, and corrected immediately. With social assistance regulations, it states that retroactive income support payments are prohibited. A...