Mr. Speaker, later today on behalf of the Honourable Stephen Kakfwi, Minister of Justice, I will table a document which identifies proposed amendments to the Territorial Court Act. This document has been prepared for the purposes of public consultation over the summer.
Members will recall that in 1992 the NWT Court of Appeal, in its judgment in the "Temela" group of cases, urged the government to undertake reforms to the act because of the potential for ministerial interference in the discipline of judges in ways which would violate the right under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to be tried by an independent and impartial tribunal.
If these proposed changes became law in the NWT, we will be in line with a trend that commenced in Ontario and Manitoba. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.