Thank you, Madam Chairperson. The Standing Committees on Social Programs conducted a public review of Bill 2, Intercountry Adoption Act, on Friday, August 28th with the Honourable Goo Arlooktoo appearing on behalf of the Honourable Kelvin Ng to provide opening comments and answer Members' questions.

The purpose of Bill 2, Intercountry Adoption Act, is to allow for the implementation of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. The Hague Convention is a framework for cooperation between countries with children in need of adoption and receiving countries.

The Intercountry Adoption Act will implement all of the provisions outlined in the Hague Convention. It establishes safeguards to ensure that intercountry adoptions are in the best interest of the child. It establishes a system of cooperation among countries to prevent the abduction, sale or traffic of children and provides a process for countries to recognize adoptions made according to the convention.

The federal government ratified the convention in December 1996. Because adoption is a provincial/territorial responsibility it is necessary for each of the respective Legislatures to pass relevant legislation.

In addition, the federal government registered an exemption with the convention that states that the Government of Canada understands that this convention does not apply to aboriginal custom adoption.

The standing committee has no problems with this bill. It brings territorial legislation into line with legislation in other Canadian jurisdictions and in all likelihood will have little effect on adoptions in the Northwest Territories.

The committee is pleased to note that the Minister took into account the committee's concern that there was no mention in Bill 2 that it does not apply to custom adoption and we will introduce an amendment to clarify this for all northerners.

This concludes the report of the Standing Committee on Social Programs. Thank you, Madam Chairperson.