Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, December 12, 2011, I will be moving the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that this Assembly recommend to the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories that the appointment of William Turner as a member of the Human Rights Commission be revoked effectively immediately.
Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion today.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Item 17, motions. Mr. Bouchard.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS the Human Rights Act provides for the establishment of the a Human Rights Commission and the appointment of commission members;
AND WHEREAS a commission member holds office during good behaviour for the term of four years;
AND WHEREAS Section 17(9) of the Human Rights Act provides that the Commissioner, on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly, may, for cause, remove a commission member from office;
AND WHEREAS William Turner was appointed a member of the Human Rights Commission on November 1, 2010;
AND WHEREAS William Turner has admitted to taking, without permission, documents from the Legislative Assembly office while on duty as a security guard;
AND WHEREAS William Turner has further admitted to lying to officers of the Legislative Assembly about taking this documentation;
AND WHEREAS this Assembly is in the view that these actions are contrary to the good conduct and integrity expected of a statutory officer holder;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that the Assembly recommend to the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories that the appointment of William Turner as a member of the Human Rights Commission be revoked effective immediately.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the mover of the motion and a Member of the Board of Management I rise to say a few words. As you know, amongst other responsibilities, the Board of Management has a significant role with the administration of a number of laws and the appointment of statutory officers under those laws. One of our responsibilities is to appoint the members to the Human Rights Commission. We have taken this responsibility very seriously, Mr. Speaker.
When we appoint people to the statutory position, we appoint them with the confidence that we are appointing the people that best reflect the values and integrity expected of the office holder. One of those individuals appointed to the commission on the recommendation of the 16th Assembly and the Board of Management was Mr. William Turner.
Recently it was brought to the attention of the Board of Management that in the early days of this Assembly, documents had been taken from the Clerk’s office. In the context of investigating this theft, our Sergeant-at-Arms and Law Clerk interviewed Mr. Turner in his capacity of working as a security guard on the weekend in question. He denied taking these documents. Subsequently, Mr. Turner was quoted in the local media as admitting to taking these documents. This was of great concern to the Board of Management. Therefore, we provided Mr. Turner with a notice of the fact that the Board of management was considering a motion to revoke his appointment, and provided him with the opportunity to respond to the allegations and to the concerns of the board. Mr. Turner did respond in writing and the board reviewed his written submissions very carefully. He admitted to both taking these documents and to lying to the House officers about that. By way of explanation, he said that he took the documents in an impulsive fashion and that his own personal attributes contributed to him acting impulsively. We recognize that Mr. Turner had one impulsive act. However, he compounded that one impulsive act by lying about this matter over a number of days and he implicitly attempted to deflect blame to others.
The board considered Mr. Turner’s submission carefully. We also weighed the responsibilities that statutory officers have to act with integrity and honour. Our officers are respected representatives of the people of the Northwest Territories. We considered the fact that this is a breach of our trust that happened in this building and that this is a place where we have an expectation that we must trust everyone around us. After careful consideration and debate, we decided that Mr. Turner’s actions were not consistent with the actions we and the people of the Northwest Territories expect from our statutory officers, and that we had no alternative but to bring forth this motion.
I ask that the Members respect the deliberation of the Board of Management and vote in favour of the motion.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Colleagues, I’d like to go back to item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Tabled Document 2-17(1), Northwest Territories Capital Estimates 2012-2013, with Mrs. Groenewegen in the chair.
