Thank you, Mr. Testart. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will consider the three documents after a brief recess. Thank you.
---SHORT RECESS
Thank you for your patience, committee. I will call Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, we have agreed to first consider Committee Report 16-18(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of Bill 29, an Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. I will go to the chair of the committee for opening remarks. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to speak to the committee's report. I am not going to speak at length, as we read the full contents of the report into the record yesterday, and I believe that that took approximately an hour and a half, because it is, to my understanding, the third-longest report that has been produced by a committee, in the history of this sitting, at least.
It shows the tremendous amount of work that the committee did, putting together their review of Bill 29. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the very hard work that staff, both committee staff and the staff of the Department of Justice, did, collaborating on a bill that addressed the public concerns that the committee heard, addressed the concerns that Members brought forward over the course of the review, and worked collaboratively to ensure that we have world-class access and privacy legislation.
I think that I can safely say that this is one of the most progressive access and privacy regimes currently in the country, and I think that we should all look towards this as fulfilling a very important part of this government's commitment to transparency and openness as a government in Canada. It is a new generation and a new age of technology, and we have seen a number of very high-profile privacy issues over the life of this government. This legislation is going to ensure that privacy rights and protections are in place for our citizens and that the government can continue to function where its own privacy is needed, but that is tempered by the public's right to know and the high standards of transparency that we have set as a society and as a government. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. The way that we usually proceed with these reports is that the chair will move as motions the recommendations within the report. There are two in this report. Before we get into that, I will open up the floor to general comments on the report itself. Do we have any general comments from committee relating to the report? First, Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to take a minute to express my appreciation to the committee and the Legislative Assembly staff for the work that they have done on this bill. I know that they have spent many hours, and they have produced a very solid result. I think that all of us in the NWT should be appreciative of that fact. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am an alternate on the Government Operations Committee, and I want to sincerely thank all of the committee members for their very hard work in putting this together. I sat in on all of the discussions here in Yellowknife. This is a great report. This is why we are here as legislators, to do this kind of work. Very significant improvements have been made to the bill, but I do want to particularly recognize a few individuals for the work that they did on this whole process.
I want to congratulate the chair of the committee, Mr. Testart, for stick-handling this through the committee. It is a very complicated piece of legislation, a lot of issues were at play, but I want to congratulate him on his chairing skills in getting this piece of work done.
A lot of the staff behind the scenes deserve some recognition. I will have to leave that for now, but there was a lot of very hard work by our staff.
I also want to recognize the work of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, who provided a lot of very valuable feedback that was incorporated into this bill, and I think that her work in particular has made it a much better piece of legislation.
This is the first time that this legislation has ever gone through a comprehensive review, and we made this a mandate priority. We all did in this House. It is a very important piece of legislation, and I want to thank the Minister of Justice, as well, and his staff for leading that effort.
I have a strong personal interest in this matter, as well, because I have used access to information for many years at the federal level. I was involved with MLA-at-the-time Sam Gargan and John Vertes in drafting the original bill back in about 1994. This has really come a long, long way, and I have become more familiar with the GNWT process since I became an MLA because I've had occasion to use this GNWT process now, trying to get documents that I had hoped to get out of Ministers. This is a strong piece of legislation now, and I'm happy to support it. I want to recognize everyone's work on getting this to where I think it needs to be. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, working with the Department of Justice, develop a detailed and costed plan to guide the implementation of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act for Municipalities.
And further, that the plan identify: I) time lines for the inclusion of different categories of municipalities in the access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act regulations; II) the resources needed by each municipal government to comply with the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, to III) ensure adequate funding for initial implementation and ongoing operational requirements; along with IV) any other significant considerations as determined through consultation on development of the plan.
And furthermore, that, before being finalized, the plan be provided in draft so that input may be obtained from: the appropriate standing committee; the NWT Association of Communities; and the local government administrators of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. There's a motion on the floor. The motion is being distributed. There are some hiccups with distribution, but we're working on it. It's a two-page motion. I will wait until everyone has both pages before we begin speaking to the motion. To the motion. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In virtually every community organization that came forward, including the first responders who worked in emergency services in the communities which the committee consulted, the number one concern was ensuring that -- sorry, I'm getting confused with other consultations, because we've been doing so many of them. Sorry, Mr. Chair.
In all the community governments we spoke to, including representatives from the Northwest Territories Association of Communities, the concern has been that a new access regime that applies to municipalities will bring with it additional technology requirements, personnel requirements, operational requirements, et cetera, and that funding is already stretched thin to support municipal operations so that additional cost pressures created by this legislation can be appropriately assessed by the Government of the Northwest Territories before municipalities are properly brought into the act.
I should note that the act creates the possibility that municipalities will be brought under ATIPP, but it is to be determined on the schedule set by regulations, so not all municipalities will be subject to the act after the act comes into force. They'll be dealt with on a schedule moving forward, and this motion calls for a very precise transparent and reliable process for rolling communities into the access regime, and to ensure that a costed plan is brought forward for any additional operational requirements those municipalities need. I think it's important that we do so to ensure that the access regime is properly functioning across all governments that it touches.
The Government of Alberta brought in municipalities to their ATIPP regime only recently, and we know there are hiccups with that system. There will be growing pain. This motion intends to address that in a way that seeks to meet the concerns raised by municipalities and the stakeholders we heard from, and that the common complaint that higher levels of government continue to download responsibilities onto lower levels of government is addressed with real action that puts people at ease.
Although the committee can't speak to any direct funding requests or compel the government to appropriate funds for this regime, we think it's appropriate that they at least assess the costs and have a realistic timeline for implementation that respects the integrity of community government operations. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I served on Yellowknife City Council in 1997 to 2006, and certainly, when I was on city council, the position of the Northwest Territories Association of Communities was that access to information legislation should be applied to them.
I think what I heard during the public consultations was that municipalities are okay with that. They just want to make sure that they have the right kinds of support in place to allow that to happen. The idea here of having a working group, some sort of a collaborative process of developing a plan for rolling this out, is a great idea, and it will involve Municipal and Community Affairs, Department of Justice, municipalities themselves, probably through the NWTAC, to make sure that they have the right resources to do this, the right kind of support in terms of training, and perhaps even through the School of Community Government.
We want to make sure that our communities have the right support to do this, and they get it right from the beginning. That may mean a phased approach through, with a tax-based community starting, or records of a certain date would be brought in, and older records through time, or whatever. I think there are a bunch of different options. The idea is to get this group working at this and develop a plan for rolling this out. I'm very happy to support this motion. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. To the motion. Minister Sebert.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are well aware of the issues that give rise to the motion, and I thank committee for the recommendation. As it is a recommendation, we will be abstaining. Thank you.
Thank you. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.
---Carried
Thank you, committee. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Minister of Justice propose, for approval by the Commissioner in Executive Council, amending the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act Regulations to include housing associations incorporated under the Societies Act and housing authorities incorporated under section 45 of the NWT Housing Corporation Act, as public bodies under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. There's a motion on the floor. The motion is being distributed. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As noted in our report on page 10, the inclusion of local housing associations is something that the committee identified as a concern. However, as with any clause-by-clause review of legislation, the committee's role is to determine how best to address that concern. In this case, committee felt that amendment to the law would be inconsistent with how the legislation operates to be inclusive of government agencies or public bodies. That is through regulations. The committee felt that the best way to address this concern of ensuring that local housing associations are properly included under the Access to Information regime is through the regulations. However, committee cannot change those regulations. That remains the sole prerogative of the Minister and the Commissioner in Executive Council.
The purpose of this motion is to send clear advice and direction to government that this is a concern. It needs to be addressed through changes to the regulations, and we hope that the government will carefully consider what's being proposed. Review the very substantial commentary on this that is contained in the report and the committee's findings and make those changes so that we can ensure that our access regime affects all public bodies in the Northwest Territories that are holding personal information of our citizens. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. To the motion. Minister Sebert.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, I thank the committee, but again, we will be abstaining. Thank you.
Thank you. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
Thank you, committee. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this Assembly recommends that the Department of Justice provide a response to the recommendations contained in this report within 120 days. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion on the floor. It is being distributed. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
Committee, do you agree that this concludes consideration of Committee Report 16-18(3), Report on the Review of Bill 29, an Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. This concludes consideration of Committee Report 16-18(3). We have agreed to next consider Bill 29, An Act to Amend The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. There are copies of the bill in the grey binders next to everyone's seats. I will give committee a moment to get them ready. Committee, I will turn to the Minister responsible for Bill 29 to introduce it. Minister Sebert.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am here today to discuss Bill 29, An Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Government Operations for their review of this bill and for the productive feedback that they have provided. A number of motions were made in committee, and I believe the bill has improved as a result of the work with standing committee.
Bill 29 amends the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act to improve public accountability, the protection of personal privacy, access to government information, and to ensure greater transparency and openness. The amendments include lowering fees and shortening timeframes for processing requests and arise from recommendations received during the comprehensive review of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act that was completed in 2017.
The amendments are a result of extensive consultation with public bodies, the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and the public. All feedback received during the course of these consultations, including the Information and Privacy Commissioner's submissions and recommendations previously identified by the Standing Committee on Government Operations, were carefully considered.
Specifically, the proposed amendments to the act include changes to:
update and clarify provisions relating to purpose of the legislation;
improve public access to information by responding to advances in technology and shortening timeframes for processing requests;
provide greater clarity on existing exceptions and narrowing the focus of specific exceptions;
acknowledge the operation of common or integrated services or programs across public bodies, and to provide greater clarity on disclosures supported by the act; and
provide for greater oversight of activities carried out under the act, including new powers for the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
The bill will also make a number of non-substantive miscellaneous amendments to improve the clarity and readability of specific provisions of the act. I would be pleased to answer any questions that the Members may have regarding Bill 29. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Sebert. I will now turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, which is the committee that considered the bill, for any opening comments. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that I have spoken at length about the importance of this bill, and I will refer interested viewers back to those previous comments. It is great legislation, and the one thing that I will say is that the collaboration with the Minister's office was greatly appreciated. We have achieved consensus on every issue brought forward by committee, and it has greatly improved the bill and shown just how effective this legislature can be when it puts its mind to collaborating on legislation. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister, do you have witnesses who wish to bring into the Chamber?
Yes, Mr. Chair.
Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witness into the Chamber. Minister, would you please introduce your witnesses for the record.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my left is Denise Anderson, manager of GNWT Access, the Privacy Office, Department of Justice, and to my right is Kelly McLaughlin, legislative counsel, Legislation Division, Department of Justice. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. That was Ms. Anderson and Ms. McLaughlin? Thank you very much. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 29. Is there anything that is unsaid? Mr. Testart.
Mr. Chair, I move that the Committee of the Whole take a short recess. Thank you.
Take a recess? All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
We will take a brief recess.
---SHORT RECESS
I will call committee back to order. Does committee agree that there are no further comments on Bill 29?
Agreed.
Agreed. Can we proceed to the clause-by-clause review of the bill?
