Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Act to Amend the Official Languages Act would amend the Official Languages Act to extend the deadline for the translation into French of rules, orders, regulations, by-laws, and proclamations made in English alone before December 31, 1989. The deadline would be shifted from March 31, 1992 to December 31, 1992, the amendment proposes.

I wish to provide an explanation to the committee of the developments that have led to this legislative initiative. Since December 31, 1989, all new statutes and regulations of the Northwest Territories have been made in both English and French. The government has, however, unfortunately experienced some difficulty with the requirement in the Official Languages Act that requires all statutes, rules, orders and regulations made before December 31, 1989 to be translated into French. The deadline for the completion of this process was earlier set at December 31, 1990. An amendment to the territorial Official Languages Act and a concurrent federal amendment to the Northwest Territories Act served to extend this deadline to March 31, 1992. In the period since December 31, 1990, the Northwest Territories has made significant progress toward fulfilling the requirements and objectives of the Official Languages Act. In July 1991, the four main and the first two supplemental volumes of the Revised Statutes of the Northwest Territories 1988 were tabled in the Legislative Assembly and brought into force, In December 1991, the third and final volume of the supplement was brought into force. The bringing into force of this volume was the culmination of the statutory revision and translation project that resulted in the translation of approximately 4000 pages of statutory text. So all of the statutes of the Northwest Territories are now in both English and French, and since December 31, 1989, all new regulations have been made in both English and French.

The statutory translation process did, of course, take precedence, but the legislation division of the Department of Justice has been making a concerted effort to complete the translation of regulations and orders made before December 31, 1989, so that all the legislation of the Northwest Territories will be in English and French. It will not be possible to complete this process before March 31, 1992, and hence the necessity for the present bill.

There will be three main volumes of the Revised Regulations of the Northwest Territories 1990, and one supplemental volume. The first volume of approximately 800 pages has already gone to print. The second volume will likely be sent to the printer within two weeks. The third and final main volume should go to print in April. It is reasonable to expect that all volumes of the Revised Regulations 1990, including the supplement, could be in force, if all goes well, by the end of June.

The Members may have some question as to what would result if the present March 31, 1992 deadline in the Official Languages Act expires without an extension. The consequences would, I regret, be serious. All regulations and orders not presently in both English and French would have no force and effect. As Members are aware, regulations and orders do represent the great preponderance of subordinate legislation in the Territories. Without being overly dramatic, it is worth noting the various worker safety regulations would be unenforceable, as would community approved liquor prohibition and restriction regimes. The ability of the government to pay social assistance could be called into question if the social assistance regulations cease to have effect, and the income tax regulations could fall. These are just examples, but I can assure you that it will be serious if 2400 pages of territorial legislation ceased to have effect by the end of this month.

Members may be aware that it is not enough for the NWT to amend its Official Language Act. The federal Northwest Territories Act contains a provision that any amendment to our Official Languages Act must be concurred with through an amendment to the NWT Act in order for our amendment to be valid.

I am pleased to report that the federal Cabinet has approved a proposal to introduce such an amendment to the NWT Act. The federal government has recognized that the NWT has given its best effort to complete a difficult translation and reenactment process and they realize that the end of the process is very near. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be pleased to answer the questions of the committee.