Thank you, Mr. Pudluk. Good morning. I have been informed that Her Honour, the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, is prepared to assent to bills. Mr. Clerk, would you ascertain if the Commissioner is prepared to enter the Chamber and assent to bills.

Assent To Bill 17

Please be seated. As Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, it gives me pleasure to assent to the following bill: Bill 17, An Act to Amend the Nursing Profession Act. Thank you.

---Applause

Item 2, Ministers' statements. Mr. Morin, your point of order.

Point Of Order

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, during a Member's statement, Mr. Pudluk requested an apology from myself to the unilingual Inuit-speaking elders in the communities who did not understand the translation because it was backwards. So, on behalf of the NWT Housing Corporation, I would like to apologize to those elders and unilingual speakers. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Mr. Nerysoo.

Sorry, Mr. Speaker. On a point of order, please.

Point of order, Mr. Nerysoo.

Point Of Order

Mr. Speaker, I would like to raise a point of order concerning our practices for tabling documents.

Mr. Speaker, as you are aware, having read the unedited Hansard for March 8, 1995, it is clearly stated by the honourable Member for Thebacha that there are no rules for letters being tabled. I'm not certain, Mr. Speaker, if there is a necessity for rules, but I believe we have to establish practices in this House for the tabling of documents.

The honourable Member for Thebacha raised the issue of letters being tabled unsigned, during question period on Tuesday, March 7th, and her comments are contained on pages 1228 and 1229 of unedited Hansard. Mr. Speaker, at that time, it was indicated that letters do not have to be signed.

Mr. Speaker, I question whether this has been established as a practice or procedure of this House. Mr. Speaker, I also note that an unsigned letter was tabled on March 8th and again the issue was identified by the Member for Thebacha, that we have no rules on unsigned documents being tabled.

Mr. Speaker, I agree we have no rules or practice, but I feel that there should be. My point of order is to request you review the matter and provide a ruling on the practice of permitting unsigned letters to be tabled in the House. Mr. Speaker, in addition, you may wish to consider giving direction to the House on the types of documents and items that should or should not be tabled in the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Nerysoo. With regard to the tabling of documents, I still remember Members of this House tabling fish heads and sewage pipes, unsigned. Those types of things were tabled in this House. We don't really have a rule for the tabling of documents and I wish to hear from other Members their feelings with regard to the tabling of documents and unsigned documents. Until I hear from Members, I will reserve a ruling, and I would like to hear from Members on their feelings as this is important.

To the point of order, Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the point of order that I have raised. Mr. Speaker, it is my belief that we have a long history in parliamentary democracy about respecting the rights and privileges of Members and that is an important factor in our Assembly. But, I also believe there is a certain need for us to protect each other, not only from what general comments may be made, but also the way we conduct ourselves and how people see us in terms of protecting people outside this Assembly.

It is my belief, Mr. Speaker, that there is a certain amount of integrity that we have to uphold and part of that integrity is the way we treat each other and the citizens who we represent. I think a rule on a practice in this House so that can clearly articulate how we will protect each other and protect the citizens of our communities is important for us to adopt. I think, Mr. Speaker, your good judgement and advice is being sought in this particular situation, and I know you will consider this matter seriously and provide us with the appropriate leadership. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Nerysoo. To the point of order. Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Prior to becoming a Member of the Legislative Assembly, I was a band counsellor and a counsellor with the Dene Community Council of Fort Resolution. So, I have some political experience at the local level. Even at the municipal and local political level of our communities, when people get letters from constituents or people they are elected to represent that are unsigned, they don't deal with them. They put them to the side because anybody can write anything about anybody or say anything about a citizen of the Northwest Territories, but if they don't have the responsibility to sign their name to a letter it shouldn't be dealt with.

I know that, as Members of this Assembly, we have a responsibility to work on behalf of all people of the Northwest Territories. When people raise an issue with me in my constituency, I take the concern down and try to work on it. But, I always look at the other side of the story, and you cannot do that if a person makes a complaint and you don't know who it is. So, it is better not to deal with it.

I don't think, in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, we should be dealing with hearsay or rumours if people don't have the respect to sign letters. There's no way that at any time in this House we should be able to table unsigned documents, especially if they are character assassinations. We shouldn't table those documents, out of respect. We all have to do our job and do it with respect to the public, and I don't think by tabling letters that are unsigned that we are showing respect for the public. Thank you.

To the point of order, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank Mr. Nerysoo for raising this point of order today, and I would like to thank you for allowing us to speak to it. Mr. Speaker, I have been troubled, since written allegations were tabled in this Assembly earlier this week and reported in the media. Those written allegations clearly pointed to an individual in a small community. I have learned that this individual, since the tabling of the unsigned document and since the press reports, has been subjected to questions from the press and personal anguish -- the individual and his family.

It seems apparent, worse, that some of the allegations tabled in this Assembly were not true. Mr. Speaker, that individual has no right of reply whatsoever and no way of dealing with this. Mr. Speaker, a Member's privilege to be free from prosecution for defamation or slander for what is said in this House is a very sacred and a very special privilege given to MLAs speaking in this House alone. It is aimed at the full and free discussion of issues and it is aimed at the pursuit of truth. But, Mr. Speaker, in my view, if Members are allowed to act irresponsibly and table unsigned documents which may be furnished to Members for malicious or political purposes, then this is, in fact, an abuse of the privileges we enjoy as Members. And, it will diminish the reputation of this Assembly.

So, Mr. Speaker, unless we wish this Assembly to be a place where Members can undertake a character assassination without accountability for the source of the information, then I would respectfully recommend that this House should adopt a practice or procedure to not allow this kind of reckless practice to take place in the future. I think it is unfair to the innocent who have no opportunity to reply, and I think it goes against the purpose of Members' privileges, which I think is aimed at a full and free disclosure of issues in pursuit of the truth. It may, indeed, have the opposite effect if there aren't some reasonable restrictions placed on this practice. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. To the point of order. Mr. Whitford.

Thank you, Mr. Whitford. To the point of order, Mr. Dent.

To the point of order, Mr. Pudluk.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have been concerned about this matter for quite some time because I have heard of unsigned documents being tabled. They point out the concerns that they have, but they don't bother to put their signature on it. It is very difficult to support that individual if they refuse to sign their name. You are probably aware that in newspapers, there is a section where people can write letters and if they don't wish to put their name down, then it is withheld. When their names are not written down, how can we support that person if we want to respond by letter with regard to the concern we have or what kind of remedies that we might be able to offer? In this House, it is exactly the same when tabled documents are not signed. We can't really do anything else, when they aren't signed. Maybe in the future, if a letter that is not signed is tabled, perhaps it won't have any use even if it was tabled. Many times we get worried about the content. Even if we want to support that person, we can't really get in touch with them. So I personally feel that from now on, all tabled documents should be signed. Otherwise, they can't be tabled. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Pudluk. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. To the point of order, Mr. Pudlat.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rarely table documents in this House, and when I do, I prefer to table documents that are signed. I'm sure this will be a great task for you, Mr. Speaker, to make a ruling on this. As my colleague, Ludy Pudluk, said, it's very difficult to support the people when they request support if they don't have their names on the document.

We have to represent our constituents the best we can because we were elected by them. Even though I've been here only a little over three years, many times we don't pinpoint one particular person. This, we rarely see in this House when we table documents. I think we have to set up a policy for what kind of documents we should be tabling, whether they'll be signed or not. Just as my colleague said, in the newspapers there are a lot of unsigned letters that are published.

Maybe we should be reminded that we think the letters tabled in this House should be signed in this House. From listening to the comments that are being made by my colleagues, I think that would be the appropriate procedure. I think we'll have to set up a policy as to what kinds of documents, whether they be signed or unsigned, we should table. We have to be careful that it's not aimed at one particular person in the public. I think we'll have to give this more consideration so we won't encounter so many problems. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Pudlat. To the point of order, Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. Good morning. Mr. Speaker, over the course of time that I've been in this Legislative Assembly, we have all, at one time or another, received letters that are unsigned and it has usually been that this issue has been discussed amongst Members or with the government, but I don't believe that I've seen one of those anonymous letters tabled in this House.

Mr. Speaker, the person writing that letter is not known to us or to the general public, or even to the person who they may be maligning, and I don't think that that practice should be allowed in this House.

Mr. Speaker, in the past, we've governed ourselves and we've done things as we see they should be done in a decent fashion. Unfortunately, an occurrence has happened, a document has been tabled that has caused an employee of the Department of Public Works, of which I'm Minister, some great discomfort.

Mr. Speaker, I'm also the Minister responsible for the public service, through the FMBS, and there are fears amongst our employees that this kind of thing, if it becomes a practice, could hit on anybody. Anybody could send in a letter that's unsigned, and if you can get a Member to table it, you could experience darts thrown at not only the public service of the Government of the Northwest Territories but anybody else who lives up here who may have annoyed somebody in the Northwest Territories. So I think, Mr. Speaker, that that practice should be stopped.

And I think, Mr. Speaker, taking a little bit of latitude on the point of order that you have before you right now, you should examine the points that Mr. Kakfwi made about whether or not we should be allowed to say damaging things about people in this House, whether it be a signed document or whether it be verbally. I think there needs to be some guidance given to Members in that particular regard.

Again, I'll repeat what other Members have said and that is that we could malign somebody in here, safe and secure, knowing that nobody could get back at us, and yet we can cause people in the Northwest Territories and their families much pain and suffering. We could cause them business losses, we could cause them to lose face in communities. There's no end to the damage that we could do to people if we don't rein ourselves in to be given some direction so that we conduct ourselves in what I would call a decent fashion, where we respect the views of other people, and we deal with these issues that cause frustration and may cause embarrassment in some other way. It can be done by meeting one on one with Ministers, or it can be done by meeting with the Premier, it can be done in Caucus if it has to be done. But, Mr. Speaker, it should not be done on the floor of this House.

Mr. Speaker, with regard to unsigned letters as opposed to anonymous letters, the government did table a document that had a number of unsigned letters in it last week, but those letters did have the names of the people on the bottom who had composed those letters and were responsible for them.

Hear, hear.

So you should also look at that particular aspect, Mr. Speaker, because when we table a document that has a name on it, the government is accepting full responsibility even though it may not be signed.

So, Mr. Speaker, your wise judgement is required, and your counsel and your guidance. Thank you very much.

---Applause

Thank you. To the point of order, Mr. Todd.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just merely want to add my voice to what has already been said by colleagues around the table, that this kind of behaviour is inappropriate and some guidance should be given to us post-haste. Thank you.

Hear, hear.

Thank you, Mr. Todd. To the point of order, Mr. Patterson.

Just one very small additional point, if I may, to assist you, Mr. Speaker. I know that several Members have referred to the practice of a newspaper printing unsigned letters, and I think they may be referring to the practice of Nunatsiaq News which is published in my constituency. I would just like to clarify for Members that Nunatsiaq News' policy is that a person may write a letter to the editor, sign it and identify themselves, but request that their name not be published. So the newspaper does have a policy of publishing those kinds of letters. But I would like to emphasize that they only publish letters where an individual signs the letter and makes their name known to the editor, for reasons of exposure to the employer or in another sensitive situation, request their name not be published. So I don't think they're actually publishing unsigned letters. They're publishing signed letters where people request that their names not be publicized. I would just like to make that point to assist you further, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. To the point of order, Ms. Mike.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to make a comment to the point of order. I feel, too, that the letters that are tabled in this House that are not signed should not be tabled, whether they come from the government or anybody else.

I feel that letters from government departments, if they're not signed by individuals, don't follow the law. If we're going to have a rule in this House that we only accept tabled documents that are signed, it would be appropriate. Thank you.

Thank you. To the point of order. Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't want to take up too much more time, but I want to reiterate two points that have been raised already. On the matter of naming individuals, we have a long history in parliamentary democracy of protecting people from criticism or, at least, a situation where

their character could be called into question. It's interesting, Mr. Speaker, I know that Members don't want me to mention this, but the simple fact is, this issue is not simply an issue of one particular letter. In fact, the honourable Member for Thebacha was the one who, in fact, indicated that there are rules in this House that should have been followed. The fact is, she was under the impression -- after a number of responses -- that there were no rules. So, in my view, she was indicating there was a need to have rules.

The one other comment I want to make, Mr. Speaker, is simply this. We also have to be very careful about how and what we say about charges to personal characters. It is very important that we are careful, as Members of this House who represent the general public, what we say and how we affect the character of those who do not have -- as Mr. Patterson and Mr. Dent indicated -- the ability to defend themselves. The unfortunate situation, Mr. Speaker, is that oft-times maybe we forget that our responsibility is to the public good; and in doing our job, we have to make certain statements and make significant decisions that affect the lives of people.

So, Mr. Speaker, I want to ask one other thing. Upon your judgement on this issue, it is my belief that, at some time, the Rules, Privileges and Procedures Committee should establish guidelines, not necessarily rules, but guidelines on how we deal with the tabling of documents in this House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you. Are there any further comments on the point of order? I, first of all, would like to thank Mr. Nerysoo for bringing up the issue. When the issue of the tabling of unsigned documents came up I had concerns about it, but it had to be brought up by Members themselves. They have to raise a point of order. I would like you to remember that if you have questions about a Member bringing up an issue, your responsibility is to raise that right away. It should be dealt with at that time. I'm glad that this has been brought up. We are a consensus government and perhaps we have to look at this and what other jurisdictions do with regard to the tabling of documents. I appreciate the Members' comments and will reserve my ruling on it to a later date. Thank you very much.

---Applause

Item 2, Ministers' statements. Mr. Ng.