Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to present the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight's Report on the Review of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Commissioner's Annual Report for 2001-2002.
Background
The Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories enacted its first Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, ATIPP, on December 31, 1996. The stated intention of the act is to "promote, uphold and protect access to the information that government creates and receives and to protect the privacy rights of individuals".
The Information and Privacy Commissioner is an independent officer of the Legislative Assembly, but is required under section 68 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act to prepare and submit an annual report on the commissioner's activities to the Legislative Assembly. Ms. Elaine Keenan-Bengts was re-appointed as the Northwest Territories' Information and Privacy Commissioner on July 1st, 2000 and will serve a five-year term.
The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act provides the public with a means of accessing the information that government collects through its departments and various regulatory bodies. The legislation was also designed to place restrictions on the disbursal of certain information in order to protect the privacy rights of individuals. The Act also gives individuals the right to see and make corrections to the information about themselves.
General Comments
Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight met with the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Commissioner, Elaine Keenan-Bengts, on December 4, 2002, to review the Commissioner's annual report for the year 2001-2002.
The standing committee noted the ATIPP commissioner's increasing frustration with the lack of progress to date on recommendations made in her previous reports to the government. The committee agreed that the government's lack of action could be considered a "deemed refusal" of both the commissioner's recommendations and the committee's own recommendations made in their annual review of the ATIPP report.
The committee notes the government agreed with many of the recommendations made by both the commissioner and the standing committee after the review of the ATIPP Commissioner's 1999/2000, annual report. In its response to the standing committee's report the government committed to the implementation of several amendments to the act. However, as of the end of 2002 the standing committee has yet to receive a legislative proposal for the amendments, let alone a draft of the amendments to consider. The committee feels that the government has had considerable time in which these amendments could have been prepared.
The committee does not believe that the government is deliberately attempting to halt the implementation of the proposed amendments to the ATIPP Act. However the committee does suggest the drafting of said amendments has been put on the back burner while the government addresses other issues it considers more vital to the public interest. The committee maintains that the proposed amendments, especially the amendment that would protect citizens from the distribution of personal medical information held by private companies, is vital to the public interest and should be placed higher on the government's list of current priorities. The committee would like to see these amendments passed before the end of the 14th Assembly: The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight recommends that the government table the agreed-upon draft amendments to the ATIPP Act as soon as possible, preferably in the February/March session.
Recommendations From The ATIPP Commissioner's 2001-2002 Report
The Inclusion Of Municipalities As Public Bodies Under The Current Act
As the commissioner has pointed out in the past three annual reports, municipalities currently have no legislation regulating the release of names, addresses or other private information on web pages or in other public documents. Municipal officials from both Yellowknife and Hay River have identified this as a serious concern.
During the review of the commissioner's 1999-2000 report, the government committed to providing information and consulting with communities about the possibility of including municipalities under the current NWT ATIPP Act. Recent letters to the committee updating us on the status of this amendment show that there has been little action taken to address this issue.
The standing committee fully supports the commissioner's recommendation that municipalities be included under the territorial ATIPP law or new legislation be drafted to deal with municipalities' use of public information.
Canadian Territories Considered "Federal Works"
The commissioner has also repeatedly pointed out that new federal legislation entitled Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act, PIPEDA, regulating the collection, storage and use of personal information in the private sector will come into full force on January 1st, 2004. As of January 1st, 2001 this legislation came into effect for "federal works" and for companies who transfer information over provincial/territorial borders.
The federal privacy commissioner considers the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut as being "federal works" under the act and therefore the federal commissioner has now taken on the responsibility of investigating all complaints made in this area.
The NWT ATIPP Commissioner recommends the establishment of territorial legislation in order to avoid having local issues handled by a federal body.
The standing committee noted that despite a letter from all territorial justice Ministers questioning the federal commissioner's interpretation of "federal works" he has refused to alter his opinion.
The committee also noted the GNWT continues to maintain that it will review the federal legislation and its effect on the NWT in 2006, two years after the federal PIPED Act goes into full force for all of Canada. However, Members note that the act has actually been "in force" for all of Canada's territories since its inception in 2001, at least in the view of the federal commissioner. Therefore the standing committee has two recommendations to make on this issue: Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight once again recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories establish privacy legislation dealing with private sector businesses in order to avoid federal jurisdiction in this area of law; and, the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight also recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories review the effect of the federal Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act on the NWT as soon as possible rather than in 2006.
Regulation Of Private Health Industries
The commissioner is concerned that while publicly run health bodies are subject to the ATIPP Act, other private health companies such as pharmacists, dentists, chiropractors, et cetera, are not. Given concerns about the practice of companies selling health information to drug manufacturers and potential invasion of privacy issues, the commissioner would like to see legislation such as the Health Information Act of Alberta. This legislation regulates the practices of all public and private health organizations and companies in respect to the release of information, among other issues.
In response to concerns raised by the standing committee, the government stated that private health care information will be covered by the federal PIPED Act as of January 2004. The government therefore does not deem it necessary to pass an amendment of this nature to the current NWT ATIPP Act.
The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight agrees with the commissioner that there is a need to protect the public from disclosure of health information by private health care companies. The federal government's PIPED Act was designed to be implemented in stages to allow territories and provinces the time necessary to establish their own privacy legislation. This legislated protection should either be included under the current Northwest Territories ATIPP legislation or should be a part of a new territorial law designed to protect NWT citizens. The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight once again recommends that the government either expands the current NWT Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act or establishes new legislation to protect NWT citizens from the disclosure of personal information by private health care companies.
Mr. Speaker, I would now like to request, with your consent, to have the deputy chair of the committee, the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, continue with the report.