Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, the bill is necessary if we are to ensure that unique regimes and procedures respecting access to information and protection of privacy established in another legislation which were, in effect, prior to that coming into effect of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, remain operative after December 31, 1999.
The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, came into effect in 1996 and provided that, in the event of a conflict between the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and another act, the conflict would be resolved in favour of the other legislation for the period ending on December 31, 1998. After December 31, 1998, the conflict would be resolved in favour of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, unless the legislation in question specifically provided otherwise.
They revealed all legislation was undertaken by all public bodies to identify any provision that dealt with access or privacy of information and then to determine if the provision:
- could be continued given the Privacy of the Access Act,
- should be repealed, or
- whether it required an amendment with a notwithstanding clause so it could remain operative after December 31, 1999.
Following the review, a bill was introduced during the 6th Session. But on December 2, 1998, the Information and Privacy Commissioner sent a letter to the Standing Committee on Government Operations outlining concerns. Consequently, the bill was not passed, but the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, was amended to extend the deadline from December 31, 1998 to December 31, 1999.
This additional time gave departments a time to continue their review of all their legislation in light of the comments of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
The additional review was completed and consequently revisions were made to those provisions in the original bill, which would have amended the Education Act and the Motor Vehicles Act. A subsection was added to the Education Act to allow a school counsellor to grant access to his or her notes to the student or parents of the student if the counsellor is of the opinion it is in the best interest of the student. A subsection was added to the Motor Vehicle Act, to clarify that only vehicle registration information, not a person's driving record, could be provided to the entities identified in the bill.
A revised bill was prepared and introduced in July of this year, but the bill died on the order paper. Further amendments have been made to the July version of the bill with respect to the Consumer Protection Act, and the Tobacco Tax Act, in response to concerns expressed by the Information and Privacy Commissioner and the Standing Committee.
Throughout this extensive review by departments, the Department of Justice worked with departments to ensure that the scope of the Access Act, was not unnecessarily limited and only the most limited number of provisions possible were given primacy over the Access Act. In fact, this bill amends only ten of the hundreds of GNWT statutes.
In some instances, it was determined that other legislation established a more compact and straightforward access or privacy regime than provided for in the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
In most cases, where the restriction on access is greater than the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the provisions deal with personal information. In other words, the tension between access to information and the protection of privacy is restored in favour of privacy. The advantage of giving primacy to the other legislation will be greater clarity and more precision.
This bill also provides for minor amendments to the Archives Act, and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Thank you.