Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As many honourable Members know, there are provisions within our Plebiscite Act, Local Authorities Elections Act and the territorial Elections Act which state that incarcerated persons are not eligible to vote. Honourable Members will also be aware, though, that on January 28th the federal court of appeal heard the case of Belczowski versus Canada. On February 27th the court rendered a judgment that in essence held that it is arbitrary, unfair and irrational to prohibit incarcerates from voting.
Members who were here during the 11th Assembly will remember that I raised this issue way back on July 3rd, 1991. At the time, I sponsored a motion recommending that the Government of the NWT should use the Legal Questions Act to obtain a judgment on the constitutional validity of provisions in the territorial Elections Act which prohibit inmates from voting in territorial elections. Unfortunately, this motion was defeated. Some Members, including the current Minister of Justice, expressed an opinion that this issue should be decided "by people elected to this Assembly" rather than by the courts. It does not appear that the government has been able to address this issue to date. Now, instead of having a legislative amendment that we could debate, or a legal ruling on the constitutionality of the inmate voting prohibitions in our legislation, we only have confusion and uncertainty.
Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories is about to embark on the most significant vote of its political history. There is a risk that the entire procedure may be impacted by these new constitutional developments. I would urge the Minister of Justice to move quickly...