Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The main purpose of these amendments to the Territorial Court Act is to provide for changes to the composition, procedures and the role of the Judicial Council in order to meet the standards of judicial independence established by recent court decisions. The amendments also introduce a new Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee and term appointments of the Chief Judge and clarify the judicial independence of deputy judges.

In the current legislation, the Judicial Council recommends appointments in the Territorial Court and is involved in the disciplinary process when complaints are made regarding the conduct of territorial judges. The NWT Court of Appeal in the Timila Group of Decisions in 1992, identified concerns with the composition of the Judicial Council and recommended that the act be amended. The court found particularly that there was a potential for interference with the judicial independence of judges in that the Minister of Justice appointed the majority of members of the Judicial Council and that the Minister is not bound by the recommendations of the Judicial Council or the results of a judicial inquiry into the conduct of a judge in deciding whether a judge should be removed from office. In those cases, the Court of Appeal found that the challenge under the Charter failed only because there were vacancies in the Judicial Council at the time and said that the government has a moral duty to introduce amending legislation.

The amending legislation also separates judicial appointments from judicial discipline and provides for extensive lay representation in a new Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee. Katherine Peterson, Queen's Council, Special Advisor on gender equality and the law, in a report to the Minister of Justice in 1992, recommended that there be significant lay representation and gender parity in the judicial appointment process. In the current legislation, the Chief Judge is appointed for an indefinite period. The trend over the years has been to move toward term appointments of Chief Judges. This is already provided for in eight of the 12 jurisdictions. The rationale for the term appointment is that it allows for the periodic infusion of new energy and new ideas into the position.

The amendments of the Territorial Court Act, provide for the introduction of five-year term appointments and the appointment of the incumbent to a five-year term. The amendments also clarify that the judicial independence of deputy judges is protected to the same degree as full-time judges, and clarifies that a deputy judge serving for a term appointment must be a judge, or retired judge, and may not be a lawyer. As a result of careful review of this bill by the Standing Committee on Social Programs, two amendments were made to the bill and I will be proposing additional amendments to the Committee of the Whole.

Mr. Chairman, I and my officials are available to answer any questions you might have. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.