Committee, do you agree to go to detail?
Agreed.
We’ll go clause by clause. Clause 1.
---Clauses 1 through 11 inclusive approved
Bill as a whole?
Agreed.
Does committee agree that Bill 16, Northwest Territories Intergovernmental Agreement on Lands and Resources Management Act, is ready for third reading?
---Bill 16 as a whole approved for third reading
We will now move to Bill 17, Northwest Territories Intergovernmental Resources Revenue Sharing Agreement Act. Premier McLeod, do you have opening comments?
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to Bill 17, Northwest Territories Intergovernmental Resources Revenue Sharing Agreement Act. The introduction of this bill is an important step towards implementing the Northwest Territories Lands and Resources Devolution Agreement and fulfilling the commitment made to reflect our Resources Revenue Sharing Agreement in legislation.
The Northwest Territories Intergovernmental Resources Revenue Sharing Agreement stands as a testament to the Government of the Northwest Territories’ commitment to working with our Aboriginal government partners. Through devolution, the Government of the Northwest Territories will collect resource revenues from public lands under its administration and control. From the resource revenues retained by our government, a share will be provided to participating Aboriginal governments. This Resources Revenue Sharing Agreement will provide direct benefits to Aboriginal governments for resource development activities throughout the onshore.
The goal, of course, is to help Aboriginal governments succeed because our Aboriginal government partners serve the Aboriginal people of the NWT, just as the Government of the Northwest Territories does. Helping Aboriginal governments succeed is sound investment because the successful governance of our partners benefits all of us.
The bill before us is short and sweet. It fulfills a commitment made in the NWT Intergovernmental Resources Revenue Sharing Agreement that requires the GNWT to recommend legislation providing for the sharing of the net fiscal benefit.
This bill fulfills that commitment and, in effect, will solemnize the pledge made by the GNWT to share resource revenue pursuant to the Intergovernmental Resources Revenue Sharing Agreement. This is something that this government supports, and reflects our vision of communities sharing in benefits of a prosperous NWT, and our goal of a strong and independent North built on partnerships.
Bill 17 is not mirrored legislation. The Resource Revenues Sharing Agreement reflects a “made-in-the-NWT” approach, and there is nothing similar in existing federal legislation. We have shared a draft of this legislation with the parties to the Resources Revenue Sharing Agreement.
I’m also happy to report that the Tlicho Government, one of our partners in this undertaking, passed its own law on February 20th that will implement the agreement on behalf of the Tlicho Government.
I would be pleased to answer any questions Members may have. Thank you.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Do you have witnesses to bring into the House?
Yes, I do.
Committee agree?
Agreed.
Premier McLeod, please reintroduce your witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my immediate right is Martin Goldney, deputy minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations; to my far right is Thomas Druyan, legislative counsel for the Department of Justice; and to my left is Jamie Fulford, legal counsel, Department of Justice. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Committee, we are reviewing Bill 17, Northwest Territories Intergovernmental Resources Revenue Sharing Agreement Act. General comments?
Detail.
Committee has agreed to go to detail. Clause 1.
---Clauses 1 through 6 inclusive approved
Bill as a whole?
Agreed.
Does committee agree that Bill 17, Northwest Territories Intergovernmental Resources Revenue Sharing Agreement Act is ready for third reading?
---Bill 17 as a whole approved for third reading
Thank you, witnesses. Thank you, Premier McLeod. I will ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witnesses out of the Chamber.
Next we have Bill 4, Health Information Act. I will ask Minister Abernethy if he has opening comments.
I am pleased to be here today to discuss Bill 4, Health Information Act. This bill is detailed and complex. It deals with highly sensitive content – the personal health information of patients – and is fundamental to enabling the health system to provide better care to residents of the Northwest Territories.
The Information and Privacy Commissioner has repeatedly called on this government to move forward with health-specific privacy legislation. The Information and Privacy Commissioner has supported the Health Information Act as a way to ensure that patients’ information is properly protected, and that there is transparency and clear limits on how the health system can use and share patients’ personal health information.
Through the Health Information Act, I believe we successfully created a comprehensive and balanced approach to health privacy in the Northwest Territories. Patient information will be protected appropriately with specific safeguard requirements that reflect today’s electronic health environment.
The necessary health professionals within a patient’s circle of care will have access to the information they need to provide better care, but they will not be allowed access to patient information beyond what they need. The government lead on privacy currently rests with the Department of Justice. However, with the Health Information Act, the Department of Health and Social Services will lead on health privacy.
On that note, delivering a public awareness campaign has always been an essential part of the department’s implementation plans for the HIA. We recognize the importance of ensuring that the public, staff and other stakeholders understand what this significant piece of legislation means for patient and practitioner rights and obligations.
We currently have posted on our website frequently asked questions about the bill and a plain language summary of the safeguard measures the Health Information Act would include. Before bringing the Health Information Act into force we would carry out more substantial public awareness activities. The department’s implementation plans also include the development and ongoing update of a user-friendly staff manual as well as the ongoing delivery of easily accessible on-line and in-person training and workshops for staff across the Northwest Territories.
I am pleased to say that during the drafting of the bill, the department undertook extensive consultations with a range of stakeholders, including:
•
the Information and Privacy Commissioner;
•
the NWT Medical Association;
•
the NWT Pharmaceutical Association;
•
the Registered Nurses Association of the NWT and Nunavut;
•
the Canadian Medical Protective Association; and
•
Canada Health Infoway.
During standing committee’s review of the bill, I was happy to be able to share numerous resource documents with the committee and to answer all of the Members’ questions on this detailed, complex piece of legislation.
I would be pleased to answer any questions Members may have today. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. I will turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Programs, the committee that considered the bill, for opening comments. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Earlier today the Standing Committee on Social Programs tabled its report on Bill 4, Health Information Act. Bill 4 is the product of work undertaken over the better part of a decade to develop health-specific privacy legislation for the Northwest Territories.
The Standing Committee on Social Programs commends the Minister for developing the bill. With its passing, the Northwest Territories will join a growing number of Canadian jurisdictions that have enacted legislation of this kind.
During the review, written and oral comments were provided by numerous stakeholders and private citizens. Comments prepared by the Information and Privacy Commissioner were especially insightful.
The committee would like to thank all stakeholders and citizens who helped to strengthen the committee’s review of the bill.
The committee conducted a public hearing on the bill on February 20, 2014. A clause-by-clause review was conducted on March 10, 2014, during which the committee proposed and adopted two amendments with the concurrence of the Minister. A motion was then carried to report Bill 4 as amended and reprinted to the Assembly.
This concludes the committee’s opening comments on Bill 4. Individual Members may have questions or comments as we proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Mr. Minister, would you like to bring witnesses into the House?
Yes, please, Mr. Chair.
Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. I will ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the witnesses into the Chamber.
Minister, please introduce your witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With me today are Ian Rennie, legislative counsel with the Department of Justice, and Natasha Brotherston, the manager of policy and legislation with the Department of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Minister. Committee, we’ll now open the floor to general comments on Bill 4. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned in the opening comments, committee did put a lot of work into the report and working with the Minister and his staff, and I just, at this time, want to thank the Minister and his staff for all the hard work that has gone into getting to us to this point of the clause-by-clause review of the bill in Committee of the Whole and all the work that has been going into this. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank all the stakeholders and all those that came and did written and oral presentations, and although we couldn’t get everything into the amendments, we did make a lot of, I won’t call them recommendations, but courses of actions, as we worded them in the report we read into the House earlier today. There were 18 of them, and I think a lot of them really represented some of the views and concerns of the general public.
Other things to note with the bill in particular was the complexity and the focus to get a plain language document as well as the training for the health information custodians and the health care providers in terms of the awareness campaign and getting something out there to the public. You’ll hear it from some Members today that might want to speak to it, but the concern with regulations, and hopefully, committee can look at those regulations before this comes into effect. Not only us but some of the stakeholders and the general public and the circle of care, in terms of how this information can be provided to other professionals that are not in the health care system but do deal with clients in that circle of care and how do we perceive that.
More or less, it has been a lot work, and some Members have mentioned that it’s not only this government that has done a lot of work. There are governments in the past and other stakeholders that for the past 10 years have really put a lot of hard work and input and effort into getting this bill to where it is today, so I just want to thank everybody for their efforts. I’m glad to see it’s here and, hopefully, get it passed and go into third reading.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Committee, general comments. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to make a couple of comments on this bill. This is a huge bill, and when we first got a copy of the bill it was rather daunting. It’s about an inch and a half, two inches thick. We don’t get very many bills that are that large. It’s appreciated, I think, by Members certainly, the amount of work that the department first and the Minister second has put into this bill. It’s been a number of Ministers, I think, that have put time into this bill. It’s been some seven or 10 years in the making. It needs to be appreciated that this is a bill that has been needed for a very long time but it has been thoroughly vetted, I think, over a great deal of time. I think the work that has been done on this bill has been really good. Over the years I think things have changed a little bit here, and there and over the years as our technology has improved, I think the bill has changed to adapt to our technology as well.
I did have a number of concerns. They have been raised all along and I just want to mention them. I think that they certainly reflect my concerns but also the concerns of some of the public, but I think that they have been answered to the satisfaction of most people by the explanations from the Minister and from his staff as we discussed the bill and as we did a clause-by-clause review.
I do want to thank the Minister and staff for coming before committee more than once. Generally, we only sort of see Minister and staff once when we’re dealing with a bill, but it was a couple of times that we went through this and it really helped us with our understanding and in getting through the technical aspect of this particular bill.
One of the things for me that partly is still a concern is implied consent, and whenever anyone goes to visit a health professional, just the fact that you’re going there suggests that you are giving consent for your health information to be used. I think there is a lot of training that is going to be required for health professionals. There’s also going to be a lot of learning on the part of the general public. I, as a patient, have to learn what it is I’m giving consent to and I have to understand what expressed consent means and when I can give it, why I might want to give it. There’s going to be a very long period, and I think it’s going to be at least a year, maybe longer for some people, depending upon how often they access the health system, for them to understand this new situation and when consent is being given or when you should expressly withhold your consent. Like I say, I think that’s generally been answered in our conversations with the Minister and staff, but it is going to be a learning process over time.
The term “circle of care” is one that stresses people out a little bit, I think, because it’s not totally understood. Over the course of our conversations, I think Members did come to understand that circle of care means the people that need to know your health information in order to treat you, and in some cases it will be a large group of people, and in some cases it will be small group of people, but that again is something which residents are going to have to learn.
Another concern that came up from the public was the security of data. With so much data and so much technology now, we have to be really careful that our data is very secure. It was also a concern about data being secure when it leaves our jurisdiction and goes to another one. We have a lot of agreements with health care in Alberta, and our data, therefore, is going to have to go from the NWT to Alberta. That was a concern, but again I think that’s something that the Minister and the department is aware of and I think it will be dealt with when we get to the point where we’re actually dealing with those sorts of things.
Lastly, there was a concern about fees, and the way the act reads it suggests that I would have to pay for my own health information, my own file. I think we were comforted with the fact that personal information, the fees would be waived for me to access my own personal file, but were I to request it once a week for three years, I certainly would end up paying for it, or if I were to request a huge amount of documents I would end up paying a fee for it. I feel comfortable that although the act reads that a fee would be charged, that the regulations will probably indicate that, no, fees are not charged if you’re just accessing your own health information.
I want to mention that there were two amendments that were requested by committee. We put them before the Minister and the Minister did agree, and I think committee needs to indicate their appreciation for that. I also want to point out the recommendations that are in the committee report that was tabled today, I hope that the Minister looks at those carefully. Looks at those and considers those and will attempt to implement as many of those recommendations or suggestions, whatever you want to call them, as many as possible.
This has been a tough act to work our way through. I think we’re all kind of glad that we’re at the end of it because it’s such a big act and it’s so very technical, but it’s great to have this piece of legislation here and done and ready to be put into place because it’s badly needed. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That’s it.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Committee, we’re taking general comments on Bill 4. Mr. Yakeleya.
I just wanted to let the Minister know that, as Ms. Bisaro said, this is a really huge, complex information act and, like I’ve said to the Minister sometimes, it’s communication, communication, communication in our languages in our small communities and make sure that people like grannie from Nahanni can understand. When they walk into the health centre that they know that they’re not just still going there for aspirins but they’re also going to be bringing other information for them that she needs to know what it’s all about. The legislation is not coming into effect for a while, but that gives you a lot of heads-up there.
Thank you for the work of the staff and for the people that came before us in our public hearings. We’re now entering into a new era of health care and a lot of communication is coming to us. The good old days of going to the health centre and getting an aspirin or a bandage are long gone. It’s now more complex and technical, so good luck with it. Thanks, Minister, for your hard work and the staff.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. General comments.
Detail.
Does committee agree we go into detail?
Agreed.
We’ll go in groups of 25 clauses, if committee agrees.
Agreed.
Clauses 1 to 25.
---Clauses 1 through 25 inclusive approved
Clauses 26 to 50.
---Clauses 26 through 50 inclusive approved
Clauses 51 to 75.
---Clauses 51 through 75 inclusive approved
Clauses 76 to 100.
---Clauses 76 through 100 inclusive approved
Clauses 101 to 125.
---Clauses 101 through 125 inclusive approved
Clauses 126 to 150.
---Clauses 126 through 150 inclusive approved
Clauses 151 to 175.
---Clauses 151 through 175 inclusive approved
Clauses 176 to 200.
---Clauses 176 through 200 inclusive approved
