Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Ms. Kelly McLaughlin, director of the legislative division.
Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Ms. McLaughlin, welcome to the House. Before we continue, I am going to ask the floor if there are any general comments on the bill. General comments? Is the committee prepared to go clause by clause re the bill?
Agreed.
Committee, we are on page 1 of Bill 11. I am going to defer the first part here and we are going to Clause 1.
---Clauses 1 to 8 inclusive approved
We are going to go back to page 1. Does committee agree that Bill 11, Financial Administration and Public Agency Statutes (Borrowing Provisions) Amended Act, is now ready for third reading?
Agreed.
Committee, Bill 11 is now deemed ready for third reading. I would like to thank the Minister. I would like to thank the witness for coming in. Sergeant-at-Arms, would you please escort the witness from the Chamber.
Committee, we will turn our attention to Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Tlicho Community Government Act. With that, we will turn it over to the Minister involved with the introduction of the bill. I will ask Minister McLeod for opening comments.
Thank Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the opportunity to introduce Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Tlicho Community Government Act. The purpose of this legislation is to correct a drafting error identified following the passage of the Tlicho Statutes Amendment Act in March.
I would be pleased to answer any questions Members may have.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Do you have any witnesses you wish to bring into the House?
I do, Mr. Chairman.
Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Sergeant-at-Arms, would you please escort the witnesses into the House, please.
Minister McLeod, would you like to introduce your witnesses to the House, please.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have to my right Kelly McLaughlin, director of legislation division, and Mr. David Kravitz, manager of community governance.
Thank you. Mr. Kravitz and Ms. McLaughlin. Welcome back to the House. Committee, we’ll open up the floor now to general comments on Bill 20. General comments.
Detail.
I’m hearing detail. Thank you, committee. Committee, page 1 of your bill. We’re going to go line by line. Clause 1.
---Clauses 1 to 3 inclusive approved
Does committee agree that Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Tlicho Community Government Act, is now ready for third reading?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Bill 20 is now deemed ready for third reading.
I’d like to thank the Minister. I’d like to thank the witnesses for coming today. Thank you very much. Committee, thank you for your patience, we’re just getting things in order.
Committee has agreed to consider Committee Report 3-17(4), Report on the Review of the 2011-2012 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. I would like to now go to the chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations. The committee has conducted a review for our opening comments, so can I get Mr. Nadli for his opening comments. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Standing Committee on Government Operations has presented its Report on the Review of the Northwest Territories Information and Privacy Commissioner’s 2011-2012 Annual Report.
The report, which includes five recommendations, was read into the record by the members of the committee and a motion was passed that moved the report into Committee of the Whole. The committee thanks Ms. Elaine Keenan-Bengts for her report and for her appearance before the committee on April 15, 2013.
The standing committee is pleased to see the government beginning to take action on some key recommendations of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and of previous standing committees for improving the access to information and protection of privacy in the Northwest Territories.
This year the committee urges the government to pick up the pace, especially on health privacy legislation, municipal access and privacy legislation, and an overall review of the Northwest Territories Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The committee requests that the government update Members on its progress in implementing these and other previous recommendations. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli, for those opening comments. Are there any general comments? Thank you, committee. That will conclude general comments for today. I’d like to now call upon Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories expedite work on the new Health Information Act with a view to introducing a bill as soon as possible; and further, that if the government is not able to introduce this bill in the fall sitting, the standing committee recommends that the government table a detailed progress report in that sitting, identifying a timeline and any additional resources required so that a bill may be introduced within the 2013-14 fiscal year. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. We’ll just give a second to pass that motion around. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair and my colleagues. I appreciate the opportunity to make a few brief remarks.
I think it’s important that we recognize the committee felt very strongly that the Health Information Act is a very necessary piece of legislation in the era of electronic medical records. Because of the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s very strong recommendation that we needed this kind of legislation to cover privacy around health records, the committee felt it was important to bring this motion forward, and I just wanted to emphasize the importance of this. We have heard previously from the Minister that we will see something in the fall of 2013, and committee’s glad to hear that. We will certainly be watching to see whether or not the Minister produces a bill as he has promised.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion.
Question.
Question had been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories expedite work on bringing municipalities under access to information and protection of privacy legislation, and that a phased approach to implementation be considered in order to take into account the needs and resources of smaller communities, while improving access to information and protection of privacy in larger population centres, and that the government table its review report and discussion paper in the fall sitting. If these are not available, the government should table a detailed progress report on the municipal access and privacy initiative, identifying a timeline for completion and any additional resources required to complete the review report within the life of the 17th Assembly.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Ms. Bisaro, to pass that motion around. I think everyone has a copy. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, this is an issue that the standing committee felt was extremely important. This is something which the Information and Privacy Commissioner has been recommending for many years, and from what we understand, the department has started to do some work on looking at access to information and protection of privacy legislation that would include municipalities. We urge them to speed it up. This motion, again, identifies that this is a very serious issue which the committee feels very strongly about.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a detailed progress report to this Assembly on work done towards a comprehensive review of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, identifying a timeline and any additional resources required to complete the review within the life of the 17th Assembly.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories table an upgraded progress report on the implementation plan for the committee’s recommendations concerning access to information and protection of privacy presented in the House since 2008, during or before the fall of 2013 sitting of the Legislative Assembly.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Mr. Nadli.
