Kieron Testart

This is very much a good-news story, and I think the federal government could learn a lot from what this government has put in place. The question remains around this issue of regulations. The last thing I think our partners want to see is kind of an ad hoc approach where some bills have co-development regulations and some bills do not, so can the government commit to creating a common approach to co-development of regulations across this suite of laws and regulations and basically any bill that is co-drafted, that the regulations that come forth have some degree of meaningful engagement with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I first learned of the intergovernmental agreement and the co-drafting process, I had some small anxiety about how that process would interact with this institution, but I can safely say, now that I have seen it, it is not incompatible. In fact, it's very much complementary. I would like to ask the Honourable Premier: what feedback on the co-drafting process has he received to date from the GNWT officials who have been working with the Indigenous governments to co-draft legislation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This amendment is similar to Nunavut's section 9 of their legislation to address information-sharing with other organizations. It would ensure that any ownership and exclusive rights issues to the information that we share must be addressed by the terms of the agreement to the satisfaction of the Minister. This would, in effect, ensure that Indigenous organizations and governments and other third parties, including NGOs, private corporations, et cetera, could place conditions into information-sharing agreements that protect their ownership of the data. Without this...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to comment on the importance of this piece of legislation. The work of the Statistics Bureau is crucial to building the evidence required to make sound public policy decisions in both the Northwest Territories and Canada, as our statistics are able to be shared. That helps us, especially as lawmakers, to better understand what's happening in our territory and how our decisions are influencing the economy, poverty, the health and wellness of our citizens. Having a sound legislative framework for the work of the statistics bureau is crucial to this initiative...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Honourable Premier. That is good news, and I look forward to seeing the results of that finding. I still think that we have undertaken a process, and I do not think it's premature to start developing policy around that process that is already under way.

My final question is: many of the IGOs, Indigenous government organizations, that participated in this process shared with the standing committee that, for their engagement to be meaningful, they need to have the capacity to actually engage the legislation that is before them. In many cases, they did not...

Perhaps my desire was for a more technical response, but that is a fair point. We do need to work together on this, and we do need to understand the flow of legislation, especially when we have Indigenous governments partnering on this legislation. Many of those governments have come before standing committee in our review of some of these laws and have asked to continue their collaborative role in co-drafting not only the bills, but the regulations arising from these new acts, should they pass. My understanding is that some departments have reached out and started this work of the terms of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm proud to be a Canadian and a Northerner, and I'm proud of our shared history as a country and many peoples and nations, but not all of our history deserves celebrating. As we share international achievements, we must equally share in the mistakes from our past, and those which are still repeated today. We must reflect on the pernicious legacy of wrongheaded policies that work to victimize and harm the peoples with whom we co-exist.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the wrongs inflicted on Indigenous Peoples and Nations through cruelty of the residential school...

Thank you for the opportunity. We, of course, during the committee review stage, spoke with the government about this, and I think that we have come to cross purposes, because what my colleague, the honourable Member from Frame Lake, has said basically encapsulates where the committee was coming from. This is about best practices. This isn't about ensuring one way or the other that there is an outcome; it is about addressing the concern that, rightfully, is a concern of anyone entering into these agreements is properly dealt with.

It gives confidence, again, to our partners who are providing...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that Bill 26 be amended (a) in paragraph 10.1(d) by striking out the period and substituting a semicolon; and (b) by adding the following after paragraph 10.1(d): "(e) the particulars of ownership, copyright, and rights to use information that will be retained, conveyed, or exercisable by each party." Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Standing Committee on Government Operations was pleased to report on its review of Bill 26, Statistics Act, and today will take some comments from that report.

Bill 26, as the Minister said, establishes a legislative framework to support the continued work of the Northwest Territories Bureau of Statistics and the Department of Finance to collect, analyze, and share statistical information.

The committee received one written submission on the bill, from the Information and Private Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, Ms. Elaine KeenanBengts. On behalf of the...