Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Aivilik that Bill 6, Child and Family Services Act be read for the third time. Thank you.

This bill reforms family law respecting the protection of children in the Territories by:

- setting out the principles by which the Act is to be administered, the paramount one being to promote the best interests, protection and well being of children;

- setting out a test to assist courts in determining the best interests of a child and providing that the determination must be made with a recognition that differing cultural values and practices must be respected;

- defining "child" as a person who is under the age, or appears to be under the age, of 16 years;

- allowing the Director of Child and Family Services to enter into agreements to provide services to families to support and assist them in caring for a child, and agreements to provide services to children who are between the ages of 16 and 18 years; inclusive, and cannot live with their parents to support and assist them in caring for themselves;

- providing for the establishment of a committee, in respect of a child who has been apprehended or about whom an investigation has been made, to make an agreement setting out a plan of care for the child;

- specifying that a plan of care agreement may provide for, among other things, the residence of the child, support services for the child's home, counselling, the responsibilities of the persons who sign the agreement and support for the child;

- allowing a person having lawful custody of a child or, if the child has attained the age of 12 years, the child to require that the matter proceed to court rather than to a plan of care committee;

- setting out the procedure for bringing a matter before the court;

- setting out the orders that a court may make after a hearing, including orders to grant access to the parent or person having lawful custody of the child and to approve a plan of care for the child;

- setting out the procedure for obtaining an order from a court approving medical treatment that is necessary to preserve the life of a child and the criteria to establish when the Director of Child and Family Services may, without such an order, authorize such medical treatment for a child who is apprehended;

- allowing a court to make an order for permanent custody of a child without finding the child in need of protection, where the child's parent delivers the child to a Child Protection Worker for the purposes of adoption;

- allowing orders placing a child in the temporary or permanent custody of the director of Child and Family Services to be extended from the time the child attains 16 years until the child attains the age of majority;

- allowing the Minister and one or more municipal or settlement corporations to enter in an agreement transferring responsibility for matters set out in the Act to the municipal or settlement corporation, designating a council of one of the municipal or settlement corporations that are parties to the agreement to act for all corporations subject to the agreement and establishing a Child and Family Services Committee;

- allowing, subject to regulations, municipal or settlement corporations that have entered into a community agreement to establish community standards to be used in determining the level of care adequate to meet a child's needs and whether or not a child needs protection;

- stating that information received under the Act is confidential, but may be disclosed in certain circumstances or on order of a court.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move seconded by the honourable member for Tu Nedhe that Bill 6, Child and Family Services Act be read for the second time. Mr. Speaker, this Bill reforms family law respecting the protection of children in the Territories by:

- setting out the principles by which the Act is to be administered, the paramount one being to promote the best interests, protection and well-being of children;

- setting out a test to assist courts in determining the best interests of a child and providing that the determination must be made with a recognition that differing cultural values and practices must be respected;

- defining "child" as a person who is under the age, or appears to be under the age, of 16 years;

- allowing the Director of Child and Family Services to enter into agreements to provide services to families to support and assist them in caring for a child, and agreements to provide services to children who are between the ages of 16 and 18 years, inclusive, and cannot live with their parents to support and assist them in caring for themselves;

- providing for the establishment of a committee, in respect of a child who has been apprehended or about whom an investigation has been made, to make an agreement setting out a plan of care for the child;

- specifying that a plan of care agreement may provide for, among other things, the residence of the child, support services for the child's home, counselling, the responsibilities of the persons who sign the agreement and support for the child;

- allowing a person having lawful custody of a child or, if the child has attained the age of 12 years, the child to require that the matter proceed to court rather than to a plan of care committee;

- setting out the procedure for bringing a matter before the court;

- setting out the orders that a court may make after a hearing, including orders to grant access to the parent or person having lawful custody of the child and to approve a plan of care for the child;

- setting out the procedure for obtaining an order form a court approving medical treatment that is necessary to preserve the life of a child and the criteria to establish when the director of Child and Family Services may, without such an order, authorize such medical treatment for a child who is apprehended;

- allowing a court to make an order for permanent custody of a child without finding the child in need of protection, where the child's parent delivers the child to a Child Protection Worker for the purposes of adoption;

- allowing orders placing a child in the temporary or permanent custody of the Director of Child and Family Services to be extended from the time the child attains 16 year until the child attains the age of majority;

- allowing the Minister and one or more municipal or settlement corporations to enter into an agreement transferring responsibility for matters set out in the Act to the municipal or settlement corporation, designating a council of one of the municipal or settlement corporations that are parties to the agreement to act for all corporations subject to the agreement and establishing a child and Family services Committee;

- allowing, subject to regulation, municipal or settlement corporations that have entered into a community agreement to establish community standards to be used in determining the level of care adequate to meet a child's needs and whether or not a child needs protection;

- stating that information received under the Act is confidential, but may be disclosed in certain circumstances or on order of a court.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable member for Keewatin Central, that Bill 6, Child and Family Services Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.