Thank you. Bill 3, An Act to Amend the Human Rights Act. Clause 1.
---Clauses 1 to 3 inclusive approved
Thank you. The bill as a whole?
Agreed.
Does the committee agree that Bill 3, An Act to Amend the Human Rights Act, is now ready for third reading?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Bill 3 is now deemed ready for third reading. I’d like to thank Member Blake and his witnesses for their attendance here today, and I’ll ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort them out of the Chamber.
Committee, if I could turn your attention now, please, to Committee Report 1-17(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2010-2011 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. I will now go to the chairman of the Government Operations committee for any opening comments he may have. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Madam Chair. On Thursday, May 31, 2012, the Standing Committee on Government Operations presented its Report on the Review of the Northwest Territories Information and Privacy Commissioner’s 2010-2011 Annual Report. The report, which includes six recommendations, was read into the record by members of the committee and a motion was passed and moved to report into Committee of the Whole. The committee thanks Ms. Elaine Keenan Bengts for the report and for her appearance before the committee on February 14, 2012.
The standing committee is seriously concerned by the government’s lack of action on the recommendations from the Information and Privacy Commissioner and the previous standing committees for improving access to information and protection of privacy in the Northwest Territories. The committee prioritized several of these recommendations and discussions with the Commissioner and is pleased to bring them forward to Committee of the Whole. The committee looks forward to real progress in the field of access to information and protection of privacy over the course of the 17th Assembly. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Do any committee members have any comments with respect to the committee report on the review of the annual report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner? Any general comments? Seeing none, I will go to Mr. Nadli for the committee’s motions for the recommendations on the report. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories, in consultation with stakeholders, implement access and privacy legislation for municipalities and bring forward a bill during the first two years of this Assembly. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The motion is in order. To the motion. I’ll just allow a couple of minutes for the motion to be distributed. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I did want to speak to this motion. I wanted to particularly say that this was an issue for the committee report in the 16th Assembly and it has come forward from the Information and Privacy Commissioner again. It’s an issue that has been talked about for many years. Municipalities are on board in support of setting up some legislation with regard to access and privacy legislation for municipalities. I believe there’s a resolution on the books for the NWT Association of Communities, which has been there for several years, I think.
So I think that to date, the government has been ignoring the recommendations of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and I think it’s necessary that we as an Assembly put some emphasis behind this particular legislation.
I know that there are difficulties with our municipalities. Some of them don’t have the capacity to do a huge amount of ATIPP requests, but I think we need to enact legislation that considers the capacity of our municipalities and our communities, and I think we need to provide the access to information to people that reside in our communities.
A number of the complaints that were received by the Information and Privacy Commissioner did relate to bodies other than the Government of the Northwest Territories. Some of them did relate to municipalities, and it’s time that we put the emphasis on this particular request of the Information and Privacy Commissioner that it deserves. I am fully in support of this motion and I would encourage all of my colleagues to vote in favour of it as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. General comments. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Next motion, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories complete work on the new Health Information Act, taking into account consultations with the Information and Privacy Commissioner over the principle of patient control and patient information and bring forward a bill within the first two years of the Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends to the Government of the Northwest Territories to undertake a comprehensive review of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the role and powers of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and bring forward a bill during the first two years of this Assembly. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The motion is in order. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to speak to this motion as well. This is one that again has been recommended by the Information and Privacy Commissioner for quite some time. The report of the Gov Ops committee mentions that as far back as 2008-2009, the Information and Privacy Commissioner has been recommending a general review of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Again, it’s a recommendation year after year that the Commissioner makes that has been ignored by the government.
Our world is rapidly changing and information is far more available in a number of different sources – electronic in particular – than what it was when the ATIPP Act was originally written. So we need to do a review of the act and ensure that we are looking after our information in light of our current information environment. I don’t think that our act does that. There are areas where we are glaringly, obviously, not looking after information in the right way.
The other issue that’s addressed in this motion is the role and the powers of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. Those haven’t been reviewed for a fairly long period of time, as well, and I think that we need to consider whether or not we need to expand the role of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and we especially have to look at the powers of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and determine whether or not we wish to give her office a bit more force to compel people to abide by decisions and recommendations made by the Information and Privacy Commissioner. At the moment all she can do is make recommendations. She cannot force anybody to abide by a decision that she has made. I think there have been a couple of cases where a GNWT department, for instance, does not agree with the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and they kind of shrug their shoulders and say, oh well, we don’t agree so we’re not going to do anything. That, in my mind, is not the way we should be treating our Commissioner. It goes against the purpose of the office, in my mind.
I think this is a reasonable request. I think the time frame is reasonable as well. We’re kind of getting towards the end of our first year, so I could appreciate if the government said, well, we can’t do it in the first two years, but we could do it in the first three years of the Assembly, but I do believe we need to move forward on this.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment develop a curriculum for Grade 1 to Grade 12 regarding the protection of privacy in the on-line environment in consultation with the Information and Privacy Commissioner for implementation in the fall of 2014-2015.
A motion is on the floor. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called. Motion is carried.
---Carried
I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a progress report and implementation plan for the committee’s recommendations concerning access to information and protection of privacy presented in the House between 2008 and May 2012 before the fall 2012 session of the Legislative Assembly.
A motion is on the floor. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to emphasize that this motion speaks to the issues that I’ve raised in my two previous comments. Since 2008, the government has not officially responded to recommendations in the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s report. The committee certainly felt, and I support as well, that any report from a statutory officer ought to be viewed by the government, reviewed by the government, and any recommendations in that report from the Information and Privacy Commissioner or any statutory officer, ought to be looked at by the government with a view to improving service of government. I think there ought to be an official response, either to the commission or to the standing committee.
This motion talks about recommendations from 2008 through to this year, May-June of this year, when the standing committee reviewed the latest report. I think it is time, it’s been a four-year time period, where there’s been no official response from government and I fully believe that it’s time for the government to respond to each of the recommendations and indicate what the government will do, provide an implementation plan to deal with the recommendations in the reports.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called. Motion is carried.
---Carried
I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a comprehensive response to this report within 120 days.
A motion is on the floor. To the motion.
Question.
Question is being called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Does committee agree that this concludes consideration of Committee Report 1-17(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2010-2011 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories?
Agreed.
Would Members now please turn their attention to Committee Report 2-17(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2010-2011 Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission Annual Report. I would like to ask the chairman of the Standing Committee on Government Operations if he could provide us with the opening comments on the committee report. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Madam Chair. On Thursday, May 31, 2012, the Standing Committee on Government Operations presented its Report on the Review of the Human Rights Commission’s 2010-2011 Annual Report. The report, which includes two recommendations, was read into the record by the chair of the committee and a motion was passed to move the report into Committee of the Whole.
The committee would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Mary Pat Short, the outgoing chair of the Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission, and Ms. Therese Boullard, the outgoing director of the Human Rights Commission, for their many years of dedicated work to promote and uphold human rights in the Northwest Territories. Our territory has been very fortunate to have such committed leaders in the field.
The standing committee expresses its concern in the report of the high number of complaints of discrimination, particularly in employment on the grounds of disability. Members would like our government to lead the way for other employers, in the recruiting and accommodating of persons with disabilities. All Members, I’m sure, share this Human Rights Commissioner’s vision of a North at peace with diversity, where everyone is safe, confident and respected on their journey.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. General comments. No general comments. Motions. Mr. Nadli.
