Debates of August 16, 2007 (day 11)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister also said earlier that the office space and the turning of the patient lounge into office space on the surgery ward was in fact temporary, as he had mentioned, and I’d like to get the Minister’s definition of temporary and how long that patient lounge area is going to be used or utilized as office space. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Further Return To Question 139-15(6): Operational Issues At Stanton Territorial Hospital

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, once we looked at putting a proposal forward into the workspace fund that we’d be able to try to get something on that, I don’t have a timeline at this point. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled Eighteenth Annual Report of the Victims’ Assistance Committee of the Northwest Territories, April 1st, 2006 to March 31st, 2007. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled The Feasibility of Whistleblower Protection in the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to table a document. The document is a petition called the Fluoride Action Network. It was released on August 9th, 2007, and it’s a signed petition by over 600 professionals with their concern regarding the use of fluoridation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have 37 letters signed by students and parents from the community of Gameti on the Gameti school addition concerns. Mahsi.

Tabled Document 40-15(6): Legislative Assembly Retiring Allowance Fund Financial Statements For The Year Ended March 31, 2007

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Tabling of documents. Pursuant to section 21 of the Legislative Assembly Retiring Allowances Act, I wish to table Legislative Assembly Retiring Allowance Fund Financial Statements for the Year Ended March 31st, 2007.

Tabled Document 41-15(6): Pension Administration Report - Retiring Allowances Act And Supplementary Retiring Allowances Act, As At March 31, 2007

In accordance with section 21(1) of the Retiring Allowances Act and section 11.1 of the Supplementary Retiring Allowances Act, I hereby table the Pension Administration Report, Retiring Allowances Act and Supplementary Retiring Allowances Act, as at March 31st, 2007.

Good afternoon, Members. I call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of the committee this afternoon? Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the committee wishes to consider Bill 13, Change of Name Act; Bill 14, Employment Standards Act; and Bill 19, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act. Mahsi, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Is the committee agreed?

Agreed.

Thank you. We’ll do that after a short break.

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Thank you. I would like to call committee of the Whole to order. The first order of business is dealing with Bill 13, Change of Name Act. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland, to please introduce the bill.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to introduce Bill 13, Change of Name Act. This bill replaces the current Change of Name Act.

The bill transfers administrative responsibility for change of name from the court to the registrar general of vital statistics, Department of Health and Social Services. This change will give NWT residents the ability to request a legal change of name through an administrative process that is easy to understand and follow, similar to that in other Canadian jurisdictions.

In keeping with the Human Rights Act of the Northwest Territories, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, provisions in the bill give equal rights to both married and common-law spouses to assume their spouse's name without application under the act. These provisions are important to avoid discrimination against those in common-law relationships, including spouses in same-sex unions.

Applications involving children will be more efficient and economical. An applicant can jointly request that the names of minor children also be changed rather than having to submit separate applications for each child. Any application to change the name of a minor child will require the consent of the other parents, and an application to the Supreme Court will be necessary to dispense with this consent if doing so would be in the best interest of the child.

The bill also provides for two levels of appeal if an applicant or any person wishes to object or appeal a decision made by the registrar general, including an opportunity to appeal to the court if necessary.

This bill includes stricter measures to address identity theft and other security concerns to bring the act in line with current and emerging practices in other jurisdictions. For example, name changes will be published in the Northwest Territories Gazette, and notification of name changes will be given to authorities such as the RCMP. The bill defines acceptable identification for determining the identity of an applicant, and applicants will be required to surrender certain identification with their application to reduce the changes of individuals having primary identification in more than one name. There are also provisions that will allow confidential name changes to protect the safety of certain applicants.

That concludes my opening remarks. I would be pleased to answer any questions Members may have.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. I will now ask Ms. Lee, chairperson for the Social Programs committee, the committee that reviewed the bill, to provide committee’s comments on the bill. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Standing Committee on Social Programs conducted hearings on Bill 13, Change of Name Act, between June 6 and June 15, 2007. Combined with the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight members, the committee split into northern and southern groups seeking input from as many communities as possible within this time frame. Meetings took place in Fort Smith, Hay River, Jean Marie River, Fort Simpson, Yellowknife, Behchoko, Gameti, Tulita, Tsiigehtchic and Inuvik. The clause-by-clause review with the Minister took place on August 13, 2007. The committee would like to thank all participants for their contributions during these meetings, and the Minister of Health and Social Services and his staff for providing this bill.

Bill 13 will replace the existing Change of Name Act. Similar to other Canadian jurisdictions, legal name changes will be possible through an administrative process rather than a court process. People will be able to change their name by applying to the registrar general of vital statistics of the Department of Health and Social Services. The bill includes provisions for which documents are admissible for the determination of the identity of an applicant. Certain identification documents have to be surrendered with an application to reduce the chances of an individual having primary identification in more than one name. Once approved by the registrar, the name will be entered in the change of name register. Notices will be published and certain authorities like the RCMP, the courts and the maintenance enforcement office will be notified. These measures address identity theft and other security concerns.

The bill also gives equal rights to both married and common-law spouses, as defined in section 1 of the Family Law Act, to assume their spouse's name without application under the act. The committee understands that applications involving young children will become more efficient.

During the community hearings, committee heard from more than one person who experienced problems when trying to revert back to their original name after government had caused a name change in the past. For example, John Itsi, a Tsiigehtchic resident, expressed his frustration with the process. “Since I was a child, I have had my name changed four times by the government. Every time I try to get them to change it, different bureaucrats go and check that person and go and check that other person and you get fed up talking with different people. You are phoning all the time and you have to pay to phone. They write you letters and ask for your original birth certificate, which you can’t find and they want $250 to change my name. They are the ones who changed my name. They should give me back my original name for nothing.”

Section 20 of the proposed bill gives the registrar the discretionary power to waive fees and the committee encourages the government to make it a practice to do so if the government caused the original name change.

Mr. Chair, this concluded the committee’s opening comments on Bill 13. Individual members may have questions and comments as we proceed. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Ms. Lee. Now I would like to ask the Minister if he would like to bring in witnesses.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Does the committee agree that we bring in witnesses?

Agreed.

Thank you. Bring in some witnesses.

Thank you. Minister Roland, please introduce the witnesses you have with you today.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, to my right is the deputy minister of the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Chuck Parker; and, to my left, Mr. Mark Aitken, director of legislation, Department of Justice.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Welcome to Mr. Parker and Mr. Aitken to our proceedings this afternoon. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 13. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The question of the transfer, I am in full support of it. I am asking in terms of the support the registrar general in vital statistics will have on the amount of work that possibly could be forthcoming with regard to this legislation. Do we have the support now in the existing system with the existing issues we deal with today? Do we have the support for this change in vital statistics in terms of this new legislation being discussed? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in reviewing this file and the bill, the department feels the department can deal with an additional workload with the support staff that’s in place. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The department may feel they can deal with the existing workloads and future workloads of this here; however, I heard some concerns in my region that sometimes these issues take six months to a year to get the information to the people because of the limited resources in the office of vital stats; a simple request for a birth certificate or issues of certificates of marriage and so on. So I am very concerned. I just wanted to make sure again that they know what they are walking into.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the office, indeed in the past, has had some problems dealing with the workload issues within that office. We have paid some attention recently to how that office has been functioning and we’ve been informed now that they are up to par on all their files and we will continue to monitor the situation. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Anything further, Mr. Yakeleya?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the Minister has indicated, they will continue monitoring the situation and the people in my region will continue monitoring this also and duly report back as we see fit. However, Mr. Chair, I want to say one thing. I do support this legislation. I am looking at the types of issues that will be forthcoming in the next couple of months around issues on the residential school issues and them working with the federal government on a different avenue and situations where some of the students that were in residential school who do not have this type of information. As Ms. Lee alluded to regarding John Itsi in Tsiigehtchic and how he explained this situation to us, I look forward on how to deal with issues like that at a community level. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we have, in fact, in cases already in that area, been involved in helping individuals prove their name and identification along those lines, so we will continue to work along those lines.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Anything further, Mr. Yakeleya? No? Next on the list for general comments I have Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to also add my support for the lines of comments that the Member for Sahtu has already mentioned and to put on record to make sure adequate resources and preparations are put in place in the Inuvik office to carry out the provisions of this legislation.

This is important legislation. While it may not be as sexy as other things like…I don’t know. I guess there is lots of sexy legislation. This is sort of the nuts and bolts the government is responsible for and if not done properly, it could cause a lot of headache and hardship for our residents. Interestingly enough, this is an issue that has come to my desk a number of times and I am sure to others. There are many of us who have been born with a name and never have to change it for the rest of their lives, but there are many others who have to change their name. In the process, governments do make mistakes or there might be aboriginal people who have had to change their names or Anglicize their names, in some cases. There are immigrants who have come into the country and sometimes are forced to, or choose to, change their names to more friendly English names from their original names. Our opening statement only spoke about changes in marital status and such, but there are lots of other cases where something that seems to be a simple and straightforward name isn’t that simple a process.

Until this legislation came about, people had to go through the court process. I do understand that the impetus came from the court side too because administratively, they would rather that they didn’t have to be responsible for this responsibility and it’s better we are putting it into another wing of a government office. But for the users of the name change, it was a rather intimidating process to have to file a court application to have their name changed and it’s quite costly, cumbersome and intimidating.

So in that aspect, I think it’s good for both parties that we are enacting legislation that would do away with that process. I just want to ask the Minister once again to make sure that resources are placed properly to get this done.

I think the legislation sets out step by step, in detail, what has to take place to have the change affected. In order for that to go smoothly, the staff responsible will have to be given proper resources and training to make that happen. Having said that though, I would like to ask the Minister to do what he can to see that this legislation comes into force as soon as possible. So I would like to ask the Minister as to when we should expect to see legislation in place. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Member brings up a number of good issues that we feel this bill will address: simplifying the process, making it easier for individuals to change their name. As well, one of the factors within this bill will be the consideration when we look in the area of fees, there would be allowances that we could deal with a nil or nominal fee when it comes to names that have been changed where the government had made that change or forced an individual to change their name. So that could be taken into consideration, as well. We are anticipating the bill will come into force April 1, 2008.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Next on the list for general comments I have Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have one quick question with regard to the Minister’s opening remarks regarding authorities; for example, the RCMP. Is there any authority you are looking at that can be included? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Minister Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, there are other areas as well that we would be looking at and one of the other areas would be the maintenance enforcement office would be another area we would notify would be other individuals who are faced with that, would do that as well. Once this is done and the name is changed, it would be published in the Northwest Territories Gazette.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Anything further, Mr. Pokiak?

Yes, Mr. Chairman. Just to follow up, will it be a really quick process if a request is given to the department for disclosing information? Thank you.