Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to bring some context to these motions as, both, our Information and Privacy Commissioner put a lot of work into these. I would like to thank her for many years of service. Our new Information and Privacy Commissioner has a big task, as well as the Department of Justice, in bringing this act online. I really do believe we have one of the best ATIPP acts in the country. However, it is not presently in force, and there is a lot of work to do. What this motion speaks to specifically is, typically, ATIPP coordinators have been located individually in all departments. I, myself, have done some of that ATIPP work, and it often gets put on the side of your desk. It really is work that requires expertise and specialization. It's fundamental to a government to make sure we respond to information requests. It's fundamental we make sure that we are an open and transparent government. Therefore, this recommendation is to centralize all of those positions into one shop within the government, properly fund them, and make sure they can implement our information and privacy legislation and truly have that expertise so that we can be a leader in this area. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am happy to support this motion.
Thank you, Mr. Johnson. To the motion. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I, too, support this motion. I had cause to use the access to information process in the last Assembly as an MLA because Ministers would not share documents sometimes, believe it or not. There was some interesting material that was sometimes exempted or redacted and differences in the way that different departments approached this. I think having people consistently work together from different departments to offer better consistency and responses to applicants is a good idea, and I support this. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? Motion carried.
---Carried
Ms. Martselos.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories update committee on work to develop a standard approach to including "access by design" principles into the design of communications, programs, policies, and legislation; and further, the committee requests details on how the Government of the Northwest Territories will formalize and share this standard approach with the Government of the Northwest Territories staff. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Martselos. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. What we are recommending here is the wording "access by design" because that is the wording the GNWT uses. This is really about open and transparent government. It's about proactive disclosure. I would like to thank my colleague from Frame Lake. He asked a number of questions of the Minister of Justice today about proactive disclosure. This recommendation has long come from the Information and Privacy Commissioner, largely with a lens that this ultimately saves us time and resources, saves our media headache; it saves people in departments hassles. I don't know how often I send emails to Ministers simply to find information, to find policies, to find things that should already be proactively disclosed. There is an abundance of emails and information requests flying around government for information that should be publicly available.
The federal government has done a lot of great work on their document management system. Ours is known as DIIMS. Many sections of that are simply open to the public already. I think there is no reason we can't put our working documents, we can't put our policies, we can't put our templates out there. Additionally, this goes to really how we publish information. Quite often, as this government, we release information, and there is not the underlying data set. I all the time request Excel spreadsheets, and it's as if it's an impossible ask to get what actually went into a graphic. We have a long way to go to be an open and transparent government. This motion is really speaking to that. Once again, I encourage this Cabinet to be a leader in this area. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Johnson. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? Motion carried.
---Carried
Ms. Martselos.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories develop and implement a plan for ending the use of fax machines in the health and social services sector. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Martselos. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am embarrassed that I have to sit here and support a motion to end fax machines in the use of the health and social services sector in 2020. I do not even know how to use a fax machine, Mr. Chair. I recognize that there are some complications here. One is getting Alberta's records and our records to be able to share digitally. We need to do that. I recognize one of the other issues is that sometimes the Internet is not all that reliable in our communities, so we rely on fax machines. I guess that ties to a larger problem, of making sure that all of our communities have access to high-speed Internet such that, when we actually update our medical records system, everyone can have access to it. However, I have had constituents on medical travel print out giant folders and have to walk in with CDs or have to request faxes to Alberta hospitals that get lost. The way right now we are sharing health records both within the territory and out-of-territory needs a serious look, and I think this use of fax machines continually is just a representation of a lack of making process on this issue and really making sure we have bought and paid for the proper software such that medical records can be safely shared both within the territory and out-of-territory. I am happy to see this motion, but perhaps in the life of this government, we can stop using fax machines to send health records. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Johnson. To the motion?
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? The motion is carried.
---Carried.
Mrs. Martselos.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to the recommendations contained in this report within 120 days. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mrs. Martselos. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? The motion is carried.
---Carried.
Thank you, committee. Do you agree that you have concluded consideration of Committee Report 5-19(2), Report on the Review of the 2018-2019 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We have concluded consideration of Committee Report 5-19(2), Report on the Review of the 2018-2019 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. Committee, we have agreed to consider Bill 15, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2020. I will ask the Minister of Justice to introduce the bill. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am here today to present Bill 15, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2020. The purpose of Bill 15 is to amend various statutes of the Northwest Territories for which minor changes are proposed or errors or inconsistencies have been identified. Each amendment included in the bill had to meet the following criteria:
it must not be controversial;
it must not involve the spending of public funds;
it must not prejudicially affect rights;
it must not create a new offence or subject a new class of persons to an existing offence.
Departments responsible for the various statutes being amended have reviewed and approved the changes. The amendments proposed in Bill 15 are minor, uncontroversial, or non-substantive and many consist of technical corrections to a statute. The amendments are of such a nature that the preparation and legislative consideration of individual bills to correct each statute would be time-consuming for the government and the Legislative Assembly.
I would be pleased to answer any questions Members may have regarding the bill. I have a witness I would like to bring in. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Would you like to bring in witnesses into the Chamber?
Yes, I would.
Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, please introduce your witness.
Thank you. I'd like to introduce Mr. Mike Reddy, the director of legislation.
Thank you. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 15. Does the committee agree that there are no further general comments?
Agreed.
Can we proceed to a clause by clause review of the bill?
Agreed.
Committee, we will defer the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses. Please turn to page 1 of the bill. Clause 1, does the committee agree?
Agreed.
---Clauses 1 through 15 inclusive approved
Committee, to the bill as a whole, does the committee agree that Bill 15, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2020, is now ready for third reading?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Bill 15, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2020, is now ready for third reading. Does the committee agree that this concludes our consideration of Bill 15, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2020?
Agreed.
Thank you, Minister. Our thanks to your witness. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witness from the Chamber. Mr. Norn, what is the will of committee?
Marsi cho, Mr. Chair. I move that the Chair rise and report progress.
Thank you, Mr. Norn. There is a motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.
---Carried
I will rise and report progress.
Madam Speaker, your committee has been considering Committee Report 4-19(2), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2018-2019 Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission Annual Report; Committee Report 5-19(2), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2018-2019 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories; and Bill 15, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2020, and would like to report progress with eight motions carried, that Committee Report 4-19(2) and Committee Report 5-19(2) are concluded, and that Bill 15 is ready for third reading. Madam Speaker, I move that report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Do we have a seconder? Member for Nunakput. All in favour? Opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.
---Carried
Orders of the day for Tuesday, November 3, 2020, at 1:30 p.m.:
Prayer
Ministers' Statements
Members' Statements
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills
Reports of Standing and Special Committees
Returns to Oral Questions
Acknowledgements
Oral Questions
Written Questions
Returns to Written Questions
Replies to Commissioner's Address
Petitions
Tabling of Documents
Notices of Motion
Motions
Notices of Motion for First Reading of Bills
First Reading of Bills
-
Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act
Second Reading of Bills
-
Bill 17, An Act to Amend the Corrections Act
-
Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Legal Profession Act
-
Bill 19, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
-
Minister's Statement 77-19(2), National Housing Co‐Investment Fund
-
Tabled Document 165-19(2), Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 1-19(2): Report on Long-Term Post-Pandemic Recovery - Recommendations to the GNWT
-
Tabled Document 166-19(2), Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 2-19(2): Report on Long-Term Post-Pandemic Recovery - Recommendations to the GNWT
-
Tabled Document 167-19(2), Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Committee Report 3-19(2): Report on Long-Term Post-Pandemic Recovery - Recommendations to the GNWT
- Tabled Document 181-19(2), Capital Estimates 2021-2022
-
Tabled Document 217-19(2), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021
Report of Committee of the Whole
Third Reading of Bills
- Bill 15, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2020
Orders of the Day
Thank you. This House will stand adjourned until Tuesday, November 3, 2020, at 1:30 p.m.
---ADJOURNMENT
The House adjourned at 4:33 p.m.
