Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee would like to report on its consideration of Bill 75, Council for Women and Gender Diversity Act.
Bill 75 received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on March 9th, 2023, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for review. On June 28th, 2023, the standing committee held a public hearing with the Minister responsible for the Status of Women. Also in attendance was the board of the Status of Women Council of the NWT. Committee received one written submission from the Northern Mosaic Network. Committee heard from stakeholders and was concerned about:
the need for collaboration among stakeholder entities to advance gender equality;
lack of definitions of key terms;
lack of preamble in the bill and concern that the purpose of the bill falls short on addressing key issues not limited to core funding mechanisms enshrined in legislation, appointment of council members and diversity of board representation
finally, there was desire to retain the original name of the act.
For these reasons, committee cannot support the bill at this time.
On September 21st, 2023, committee held a clausebyclause review of the bill with the Minister at which time committee passed a motion to report the bill as not ready to proceed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills. Member for Deh Cho.
