Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the statutory officers of this Assembly is the Information and Privacy Commissioner. The commissioner does excellent work, not only carrying out her regular duties but also advocating for areas in need of further attention. Unfortunately, the government is not heeding all of her recommendations.
For almost 10 years now the Information and Privacy Commissioner has recommended that this government amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy legislation, ATIPP, to include municipal governments under the act. This has yet to happen. The most recent Information and Privacy Commissioner Annual Report, 2011-2012, again highlighted this need. The NWT Association of Communities has resolutions on their books for the past six years asking for a change in legislation.
Each year the Information and Privacy Commissioner receives a number of complaints from residents about municipal actions, specifically the way municipalities are collecting, using, or disclosing personal information. In 2011-2012 there were two such privacy complaints about municipalities but they weren’t actioned because the Information and Privacy Commissioner has no authority or jurisdiction under the ATIPP Act to deal with complaints against municipalities. Even when the Information and Privacy Commissioner tried to engage these two municipalities in discussions around the protection of privacy of employee information and policy, she was refused.
Currently, without access and privacy legislation applying to municipalities, there are no legislative constraints on NWT municipalities. Even though they all collect and retain significant amounts of personal information about their citizens and their employees, there is no oversight and no recourse for citizens when information is improperly used, nor are there any rules which allow citizens access to the information that municipalities create and collect.
I realize that municipalities face capacity and staffing issues, but the government, through MACA, has to accept responsibility to help their communities, to help them with ATIPP. But the burden on municipalities, if they are included under ATIPP, is acceptable when compared to the potential violation of individuals’ rights to privacy and protection of their own information. Of all Canadian jurisdictions, the three territories are the only ones without information and privacy legislation for municipalities. It’s long past time for this government to take action on amending the ATIPP Act. It really must be made a priority. Mr. Speaker, as you like to say, let’s get ‘er done.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
