Committee, we're going to have to take a five minute recess. Sorry.
SHORT RECESS
I now call Committee of the Whole back to order. Sorry, committee. We have the correct documents.
I will go to Mr. Johnson for the first motion.
Did I move it already, Madam Chair?
Please read the motion.
Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories, in consultation with the Information and Privacy Commissioner, by April 1, 2023, establish a governmentwide policy that ensures all employees receive appropriate training on the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information. The policy should ensure that new employees receive training early on and all employees receive regular refreshers.
Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? Mr. Johnson.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The printed copy I have did not have a back to the motion so I need to add some more words to the motion.
Thank you. Mr. Johnson, can you please reread the motion.
Madam Chair, for the third time, hopefully a charm, I MOVE that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories, in consultation with the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and by April 1, 2023, establish a governmentwide policy that ensures all employees receive appropriate training on the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information. The policy should ensure that all new employees receive training early on and all employees receive regular refreshers;
And further, that the government emphasize Indigenous recruitment and retention to fill access and privacy positions.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Previously, this committee has moved motions that ATIPP staff receive training, and I believe with the new centralization of the Access and Protection of Privacy office, a lot of that is being done. But it is clear that the number of breaches we're seeing are obviously not done by ATIPP officers. They're happening on the front lines with staff who deal with private information. And this motion recommends that the Information and Privacy Commissioner is more than willing to work with the department to provide training to those people to bring down the number of breaches.
Additionally, committee would like to emphasize that, you know, not many people grow up wanting to be an access and privacy officer but it is in dire need of people with expertise. So we encourage, you know, the youth to go get some training in access to privacy and to the department to, you know, use all of the Indigenous recruitment tools we have to make sure we fill these positions and, you know, have the capacity within territory. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining?
Carried
The motion is carried. Mr. Johnson.
Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Finance, in consultation with the Information and Privacy Commissioner, by April 1, 2023, update policies governing the use of mobile handheld devices by the public service, including:
1. The Mobile Handheld Devices Policy, to expand the policy provisions for proper use to address all the ways a user can collect, use, or disclose personal information with a device.
2. The employee code of conduct to introduce provisions to protect personal privacy regarding the use of government equipment and property; and.
3. New policy guidance to address the use of personal devices and email to conduct government business;
And further, that the Department of Finance should supplement these policies with easily accessible guidance documents on how devices should and should not be used.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. It's quite clear that all of our policies on personal devices and handheld devices are quite outdated, and this is both an access and a privacy issue. And I guess this needs to be a reminder to the public service that please do not conduct any personal business on work cell phones and computers, and certainly do not conduct any work business on personal devices. These lines should not be blurred. They make both yes, the amount of information, private information that cell phones can collect these days is truly remarkable, but it takes it outside of ATIPP and it has had privacy breaches in the past.
Additionally, there's been concerns with public servants using software that is not "ATIPPable" and thus taking decisionmaking outside of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. So we encourage the government to take a look at all of these policies and make sure that we're using our devices properly. Thank you.
Thank you. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining?
Carried
The motion is carried. Mr. Johnson.
Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide an update on its plan to reduce the use of faxing across the health and social services system, including:
Metrics on reductions in the use of faxing achieved so far;
The targets and associated timelines for future reductions; and
If faxing cannot or will not be eliminated, an explanation on why the use of fax cannot or will not be eliminated, and what measures the department is taking to mitigate the risk of data breaches arising from misaddressed documents.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I've had the honour of moving a number of motions in this Assembly to eliminate fax machines, and they each get a little more specific as the department tries to make progress in this area.
And I want to clarify, this is not just some vendetta against outdated technology. The Information and Privacy Commissioner has consistently raised that, still to this date, a number of health breaches are arising from the use of fax machines. So I think the preference here is to completely get rid of them and perhaps the new electronic medical records will assist in that. But if we can't get rid of them, there clearly needs to be some increased guidelines in place so that we get no more health breaches through the use of fax. And I hope that these specific targeted metrics we're asking the Department of Health to implement will do that. Thank you.
Thank you. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those abstaining? Or all those opposed, I should say. All those abstaining?
Carried
The motion is carried. Mr. Johnson.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide an update on complying with Section 72(1) of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which requires the head of a public body to establish and publish categories of records to be made available to the public without a request for access;
AND FURTHER, the update should include a summary of the progress achieved so far and the timelines for full compliance at each public body. Thank you, Madam Chair.
The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm very happy that the last Assembly in the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act put on an emphasis on proactive disclosure which requires every deputy minister to go look through past ATIPPs and look through their records and see what can be disclosed without an access request. A number of MLAs in this Assembly consistently ATIPPed the same documents and often they come back unredacted.
The scope of what is ATIPPable and what is public is widely disconnected. So to date, departments have not complied with the act and complied with proactive disclosure of clarifying which records can be made public without an access request.
To date, the culture seems to be using ATIPP as a shield. ATIPP is not there to prevent information from coming out and used to, you know, drag on a process. ATIPP is there to direct departments to get that out before anyone needs to file a request. There's lots of guidance on how best to do this, and we encourage all departments and deputy ministers to comply with the act. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining?
Carried
The motion is carried. Mr. Johnson.
Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this report within 120 days. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining?
Carried
The motion is carried.
Thank you, committee. Do you agree that you have concluded consideration of Committee Report 3019(2), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 20202021 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We've concluded consideration of Committee Report 301(2), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 20202021 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
Member for Frame Lake.
Mahsi, Madam Chair. I move that the chair rise and report progress. Thank you.
There's a motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is in order and nondebatable. All those in favour? All those opposed?
Carried
The motion is carried.
I will now rise and report progress.
May I please have the report of Committee of the Whole. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Committee Report 3019(2) and Committee Report 3119(2), and I would like to report with nine motions carried, and that Committee Report 3019(2) and Committee Report 3119(2) are concluded. And, Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Do we have a seconder? Member for Great Slave. All those in favour? All those opposed? Any abstentions?
Carried
The motion is carried.
