Merci, Madame la Presidente. In my statement earlier today, I talked about how we have some of the best access to information, protection, and privacy legislation in the world, maybe. The problem is it hasn't been implemented; it hasn't been brought into force. I'd like to ask the Minister of Justice to explain what the next steps are with regard to bringing these changes to ATIP into legal effect and when that might happen. Merci, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Justice.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have some good news. That is that the majority of provisions are expected to be brought forward, or brought into force, in the fall, this fall of 2020. That would include the changes that are being made to reduce some of the fees. With respect to changes that are going to be made that will impact on smaller communities and municipalities, Madam Speaker, a working group has been formed with representatives of the small communities to ensure that they are part of the process to develop those regulations. That working group now has set dates when they will meet, and as they meet the next stages will be developed in conjunction with that process. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for that great news. Unfortunately, it looks like it's going to take about one and a half years to finally get the fees reduced, maybe even closer to two or three years from when the "what we heard" report came up. That's still good news. There are a number of areas that were identified in the "what we heard" report, such as a training, identification of classes of records, that do not require an ATIP application. Can the Minister give us a sense of the priorities in terms of that work and when it's going to be implemented, as well?
The training and the guidelines, resource materials for all the different departments, that is either has been or is being developed right now, with some training due to begin, I understand, in April. As to the specific training schedule, of which departments, I don't know that offhand. I will commit to providing that to the Member as I can identify it. I can say that, certainly, reducing the fees has been a priority, and ensuring that movement to provide better access to information, there is one area of documents that will be identified, so they can be available without having to go through the process, that is also a priority that we will be working on.
I want to thank the Minister for that reply. Back in June of 2019, the then-Minister of Finance read out in the House a series of proposed decreases in fees, and I mentioned those in my Member's statement. I'm not going to run through them again, but is that what the Minister going to do with the regulations that are coming forward as early as fall of this year?
I did take your full note, as the Member was speaking earlier, I can't confirm that those are indeed the changes that are being contemplated to reduce the fees.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake. No? Okay. Oral questions, Member for Yellowknife Centre.
