Mr. Speaker,

I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 29, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, No. 2, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill amends the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act to delete provisions that would automatically repeal, at the dissolution of the 14th Legislative Assembly, the electoral districts that return Members to the Legislative Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. We have a motion. The motion is in order. To the principle of the bill. All those in favour, please signify. Thank you. All those opposed? Thank you. The motion is carried. Bill 29 has had second reading. The Chair recognizes the honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Steen.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 69(2) and have Bill 29, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, No. 2, moved into committee of the whole for today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to waive Rule 69(2).

Thank you. We have a nay. You do not have unanimous consent. Therefore, Bill 29 is referred to a committee. Item 18, second reading of bills. Item 19, consideration in committee of the whole of bills and other matters; Tabled Document 35-14(5), Bills 22, 23, 24 and 28 with Mr. Krutko in the chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to recommend that committee consider Bill 22 followed by Bill 23 then Bill 24 and Bill 28. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Does committee agree?

We will start with Bill 22 after a short break.

-- Break

I will call committee of the whole back to order. When we adjourned we agreed to begin with Bill 22, An Act to Amend the Child and Family Services Act. At this time I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the bill if he will be bringing in any witnesses.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Does committee agree?

Sergeant-at-Arms, can you escort the witnesses in?

Mr. Minister, please introduce your witnesses for the record.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, with me are Mr. Dave Murray, the deputy minister of Health and Social Services and Rebecca Veinott, legislative counsel for the Department of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Welcome, witnesses.

Yesterday before we left off we went clause by clause and the last clause we had to deal with was the amendment to clause 7 of Bill 22. At this time I would like to recognize Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as I have pointed out in our discussions yesterday, I had been approached by people who pointed out the issue that emotional treatment that is set out in clause 7 is not defined in the act and there was a real concern, not only about that but about the phrase "may be in danger." The concern that leaves things fairly wide open.

The recommendation that I was given was that we should probably stick to the wording that was probably found in the act before in terms of not opening the door to uncertainty or to leaving the whole issue around reporting when a child is in need of protection, not making it quite so uncertain as what it would be under this new act.

Looking at it, I could see the concern. Therefore, I would like to move a motion.

I MOVE, Mr. Chairman, that clause 7 of Bill 22 be amended by deleting proposed subsection (8)(1) and by substituting the following:

(8)(1) A person who has information of the need of protection of a child shall, without delay, report the matter:

1. (a) to a child protection worker; or
2. (b) if a child protection worker is not available to a peace officer or an authorized person.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The motion is in order. To the motion. Question has been called. All those in favour. All those against. The motion is carried. Clause 7, as amended.

Bill as a whole, as amended.