Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to use this opportunity, through my Member's statement, to bring forward a concern that has been bothering some constituents of mine. Mr. Speaker, I can't name the person because this person happens to be a youth, but a family has called me on numerous occasions over the past year. It concerns their dealings with the Department of Health and Social Services about getting their child into treatment.

Mr. Speaker, we have a young northerner here who has FAE. This person is seriously at risk. It is time that something gets done. This family has been trying to deal with this situation for many years. They have been trying to work with the department. Mr. Speaker, these people, the parents that I am talking about, are good people. They are really trying, but, unfortunately, they are at the end of their ropes. They don't know what to do. They have been going to the department. Now they are getting new workers and new assessments. The parents are just begging, "Send our child out for treatment!" Their child has been in Bosco Homes, so there is a history of the child receiving treatment in the past. This child needs treatment now.

Some day, this child will no longer be a youth. The Minister responsible for this situation, who used to be a former social worker, will understand the importance of early treatment and intervention. We may never be able to reverse the effects of FAE. However, we can mitigate the future problems by doing something now. So how long are we going to wait for this terrible situation? Do we need another assessment? Because we already know the history of this person. I don't think it is beyond relative, straightforward thinking to say let's do something finally. This family needs a commitment. The concern is how much longer are we going to wait.

The Department of Health and Social Services is continually hot-potatoing this issue around. Is it a question of they don't want to spend the money? Do they not want to derive a bit of time for this young person? Because the issue here is, if they don't provide services, well, I can guarantee you today the Department of Justice will be providing services for this young adult in the future through three square meals a day and programming. So if we don't help them on this side of the government, I can guarantee you today we will be on the other side of the government. Mr. Speaker, I am just going to close my Member's statement by basically saying we are failing our kids, so we should darn well fail ourselves. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this summer, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend a spiritual gathering east of Reliance on Great Slave Lake near the mouth of the Lockhart River, along with many other constituents of Tu Nedhe. Also, we were lucky to have a visit by our Premier during this spiritual gathering. The spiritual significance of this river is not only very important to the spiritual well-being of the residents of Tu Nedhe, but it also allows residents of Tu Nedhe and surrounding areas to come together to share oral history and prayer along with many evenings of laughter and drum dancing.

Mr. Speaker, during the gathering, there were scheduled flights, about 15 minutes long, to a place called the Lady of the Falls where people go to pray, make offerings, and ask the old lady of the falls for help in any aspects of their lives that they wish. Although the plans for everyone who made the day trip to the falls were to be returned safe and sound back to the main camp, there was one group of 27 people who had the unfortunate but enlightening experience of spending the night out at the falls on August 11, 2004, because of cancellations of the return flights due to heavy smoke in the area.

Mr. Speaker, I was one of these people who had this opportunity to camp out without tents, blankets or food. With 19 of these people stranded, being elders, we had a formidable task of erecting two spruce bough shelters using one small hatchet which, luckily, someone had left behind from a previous visit, and also keeping the elders warm throughout the night. Mr. Speaker, with sound minds and good cooperation and high spirits, the shelters were erected in a timely manner before dark and in a fashion only experienced northern hunters and trappers could appreciate, not to mention the vast amount of blueberries and traditional tea we had available for consumption.

Mr. Speaker, I am glad to say that everyone returned safely to the main camp the following morning thanks to people like Eddy Lafferty, Jerry Sanderson, Paul Boucher, my brother Gord, and many other individuals who stayed up all night to keep the three fires going, and others like Skinny-man and Archie Smith, who kept everyone's spirits up with their good humour. Everyone seemed to be quite content about the whole ordeal and opted to not express

any negative feelings about the whole incident upon return.

This was also reinforced by the silver lining of this whole experience...I ask the Members if I can continue my statement.

The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may continue your statement, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Members. This decision was also reinforced by the silver lining of the whole experience that Chief Catholique offered later in the evening in that the oral history of the Lady of the Falls says that if you go to seek help from the Lady of the Falls, then your prayers will be better received and answered if only one spends the night at the falls, which many visitors heed that advice to this day. With that, Mr. Speaker, I am thankful that my prayers were answered by having the Lady of the Falls, along with some of the assistance of the Lutselk'e band manager, Irvin Norn, in keeping my two children, Robyn and Andre, aged 8 and 11, fed and safe for the 20 hours that they had to spend alone in camp. So I say thank you and God bless to everyone that had to spend the night out on that day and it has allowed me to realize that birthday gifts do sometimes come in the most unexpected packages. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Item 3, Member's statements. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to offer the report on the review of the Information and Privacy Commissioner's Annual Report 2002-2003.

Background

The NWT's Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act -- ATIPP -- came into force on December 31, 1996. The purpose of the act is to make public bodies more accountable and to protect personal privacy by giving the public a right of access, with limited exceptions, to records held by the GNWT and related public bodies, and by preventing the unauthorized collection, use or disclosure of personal information by the GNWT and related public bodies. The act also gives individuals the right to see and make corrections to information about themselves.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner is an independent officer of the Legislative Assembly, and is required under section 68 of the act to prepare and submit an annual report. Ms. Elaine Keenan-Bengts was reappointed as the NWT's Information and Privacy Commissioner on July 1, 2000, for a five-year term.

Several amendments to the act came into force April 1, 2004, including new powers for the Commissioner to investigate and make recommendations on privacy complaints. Many of these amendments were made in response to recommendations the Commissioner made in previous annual reports.

General Comments

The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight held a public meeting with Ms. Keenan-Bengts on August 23, 2004, to review her 2002-2003 annual report.

The committee was pleased to hear from the Commissioner that in her view most government agencies and ATIPP coordinators do understand the act, and are applying it well. However, the Commissioner identified some specific exceptions, which did concern Members. One was a failure by RWED to release information on its legal costs in a court action. The committee would urge the government to be more open in such cases, in order to avoid, as the Commissioner suggested in her report, fostering "an atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust." Another was an apparent breach of personal privacy when an employee's medical information was disclosed to her

supervisor. The committee would encourage the Department of Health and Social Services and the health boards to work with the Commissioner in order to ensure that staff are aware of their responsibilities in protecting private information.

The Commissioner's Recommendations

Access To Information And Privacy Legislation For Municipal Governments

As in her past four reports, the Commissioner recommends that municipal governments be brought under territorial access to information and privacy legislation, either by including them under the act as public bodies, or by passing new legislation specific to them. The Commissioner points out that municipal authorities gather and maintain significant information about individuals, and that there are possibilities of integrated information systems and data sharing between the GNWT and municipal governments.

The previous government recommended against bringing municipalities under the act based on consultations with municipal representatives who were concerned with the impact the legislation would have on day-to-day operations and ongoing administrative costs.

The committee considers access to information and protection of privacy standards to be an essential part of an open and transparent government. Members acknowledge the challenges of developing and implementing such legislation for municipal governments, but do not consider them to be insurmountable.

In order to implement its own legislation, the GNWT had to make a significant investment in training, and developing policies, procedures and proper records management systems. Much of this work is ongoing. Municipal governments have far fewer human and financial resources to work with. In the absence of GNWT assistance in the form of funding and access to records management specialists, it would be unfair to expect municipal governments to implement and administer new information and privacy legislation. The GNWT, therefore, needs to work with municipal governments to assess the resources required to implement and administer such legislation, and to develop a reasonable implementation plan. In the meantime, the GNWT should continue to be prepared to assist any municipal governments who ask for help in designing their own guidelines for managing records and information.

The committee recommends that the government work with the NWT Association of Communities to assess the resources required for municipal governments to be able to comply with access to information and protection of privacy legislation, and to develop an implementation plan for such legislation.

Made-In-The-NWT Privacy Legislation For The Private Sector

The Commissioner recommends, as in previous reports, that the NWT enact its own "made-in-the-North" privacy legislation to regulate how the private sector collects, uses or discloses personal information.

NWT businesses are already regulated by the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act -- PIPEDA -- which came into full force on January 1, 2004. However, the Commissioner has raised concerns that this act will not provide an adequate regulatory framework for the NWT. In particular, she is concerned that the federal Privacy Commissioner will likely have the resources to deal with only broad national issues, and not the smaller local issues that are likely to affect NWT residents.

The position of the previous government was that it would be premature to consider NWT legislation at this time, and that the issue should be re-examined following the mandatory review of Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act by the House of Commons, which is scheduled for 2006.

Although the committee believes the Commissioner's concerns are legitimate, it agrees with the government's position that it would be premature to develop our own legislation at this time. The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act is new and its effectiveness in the NWT has not yet been tested. In the meantime, government should concentrate its efforts on ensuring its own house is in order and that staff understand and are applying the privacy provisions of ATIPP appropriately.

Mr. Speaker, the committee recommends that the government monitor the effectiveness of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act in the NWT, and prepare its own report with recommendations on whether the NWT needs its own legislation following the 2006 review of Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act by the House of Commons.

Devolution And Self-Government Negotiations

The Commissioner recommends that access to information and protection of privacy issues be kept at the top of the agenda in devolution and aboriginal self-government negotiations to ensure accountability and protection of personal information by new governments. The committee supports this recommendation, as it is important that emerging governments are aware of these issues.

Private Contractors

The GNWT contracts out some of its functions to private industry, which could involve a business handling personal information on behalf of government. For example, motor vehicles registrations were, at one time, administered by a private contractor. The Commissioner is concerned that private businesses may not be required to follow the same information and privacy laws that would apply if the GNWT were doing the work itself. She recommends that this should be addressed by including clauses in outsourcing contracts to require compliance with the act.

The committee recommends that the government investigate whether its contracts currently include clauses requiring compliance with ATIPP and, if not, that the government add such clauses to any outsourcing contracts where a business would be creating records that would otherwise be government

records or handling personal information on behalf of the government.

Awareness And Understanding Of The Act

The Commissioner recommends that government prepare an updated directory of the ATIPP coordinators for departments and public bodies, and make it easily accessible to the public. It is the committee's understanding that the government has already addressed this recommendation.

The Commissioner also recommends government continue to support and encourage ongoing training for ATIPP coordinators, and ensure that all employees are aware of their basic responsibilities under the act. The committee supports this recommendation.

Conclusion

The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight would like to thank the Commissioner, Ms. Elaine Keenan-Bengts, for presenting her report at the committee's public hearing.

The committee requests the Executive Council to table a comprehensive response to this report within 120 days, in accordance with Rule 93(5) of the Rules of the Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, that concludes the report of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight on the review of the report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for 2002-2003.

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for North Slave, that Committee Report 7-15(3) be received by the Assembly and moved into Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion.

Question is being called. All those in favour? Opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Committee Report 7-15(3) will be moved into Committee of the Whole. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to take a moment to thank the honourable Member for Nahendeh; apparently there were two reports to read in and he gave me the longer of the two.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, I would like to read the review of the Languages Commissioner's Annual Report 2003-2004.

Review Of The Languages Commissioner's Annual Report 2003-2004

History

The Official Languages Act was passed by the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories in 1984. The act guarantees equal status for the use of Canada's two official languages for members of the public using government programs and services. The act also officially recognized the aboriginal languages spoken in the Northwest Territories.

In 1990 amendments to the act gave greater status to northern aboriginal languages and recognized the need to protect aboriginal culture through the promotion of the use of aboriginal languages. The 1990 amendments also included the creation of the position of the Languages Commissioner to be appointed by the Legislative Assembly for a term of four years.

Review Of The Official Languages Act

Section 29(1) of the act required a review of the Official Languages Act following December 31, 2000. A special joint committee was established in November of 2000 to examine the effectiveness of the current legislation to protect both Canada's official languages and the aboriginal languages of the Northwest Territories. The Special Committee on the Review of the Official Languages Act -- SCOL -- presented its final report, One Land, Many Voices, to the Legislative Assembly in March 2003. It contained 64 recommendations, which were adopted by Committee of the Whole, including several recommendations to amend the act. As a result of the committee's recommendations, Bill 31, passed in October 2003, introduced five major changes to the act.

The changes are:

1. First, Inuinnaqtun, Inuvialuktun, North Slave and South Slavey are now identified as official languages. Prior to this change, these languages were not recognized separately in the act. Only Slavey and Inuktitut were identified.
2. The establishment of an Official Languages Board, an Aboriginal Languages Revitalization Board, and a Minister responsible for the Official Languages Act will allow the Languages Commissioner to focus on the ombudsman-like role of that office. The role of promoting languages will now be the responsibility of the Minister and the new boards.
3. A new Official Languages Board will be established with membership from each of the Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey and South Slavey language communities. Members will be nominated by each of these language communities and appointed by the Commissioner on recommendation of the Minister for appointment. The purpose of this board will be to review the rights and status of each of the official languages and their use in the administration and delivery of services by government institutions. It may also evaluate theprovisions of this act. This board will advise the Minister.
4. A new Aboriginal Languages Revitalization Board will also be established with representation from all of the official languages except for French and English. Members will be nominated by the respective language communities and appointed by the Commissioner on recommendation of the Minister. This board will review programs of the communities and the government to promote and add a new spark to aboriginal languages. They will also review the effectiveness of this act and advise the Minister on these matters.
5. And finally, the amendments passed last fall set out the responsibilities of the Minister responsible for the Official Languages. The responsibilities of the Minister are to:
6. a) consider the recommendations from the both the Official Languages Board and the Aboriginal Languages Revitalization Board;
7. b) oversee the development of policies and regulations necessary to implement this act and evaluate them;
8. c) promote official languages communication in schools and post-secondary institutions and in adult education and literacy training programs; and,
9. d) produce reports on the activities of the two language boards.

Languages Commissioner

According to section 20(1) of the act, the duties of the Languages Commissioner are:

...to take all actions and measures within the authority of the Languages Commissioner with a view to ensuring recognition of the rights, status and privileges of each of the official languages and compliance with the spirit and intent of the act in the administration of the affairs of government institutions, including any of their activities relating to the advancement of the aboriginal languages in the Territories.

The Commissioner has the authority to investigate any complaints made to the office or may initiate an investigation if it is warranted. The Commissioner may also issue opinions on complaints and make recommendations to institutions as deemed necessary. If, after a reasonable amount of time, the Commissioner's recommendations have not been acted upon by the institution, the Commissioner may make a report to the Legislative Assembly.

The Commissioner is also required to submit an annual report to the Legislative Assembly. Ms. Fibbie Tatti was appointed to the position of Languages Commissioner in July of 2000 and her term expired in July of 2004. Ms. Shannon Gullberg is currently serving as the Acting Languages Commissioner, pending recruitment of a new Commissioner.

Annual Report 2003-2004

Ms. Tatti submitted her annual report for the year 2003-2004, which was tabled in the House on June 2, 2004. The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight met to review the report on June 24, 2004. The committee would like to thank Ms. Tatti and her staff for presenting the report.

Recommendations

The Languages Commissioner made three recommendations in her annual report. The recommendations are listed below, along with the committee's responses.

Recommendation No. 1

It is recommended that the current members of the OLC Advisory Board continue their role on the two new advisory boards as identified by the recommendations of the Special Committee on the Review of Languages.

The committee strongly supports the Languages Commissioner's recommendation and wrote to the Minister of Official Languages asking him to give special consideration to former advisory board members when appointing people to the Official Languages Board and the Aboriginal Languages Revitalization Board. The Minister replied that he has asked for nominations from all the language communities, and that he would consider the committee's suggestion in the event that a language community nominates more than one person for one board.

Recommendation No. 2

Archiving artifacts must be done with their history, explanation and the language in which it was developed. It is strongly recommended by the Official Languages Commissioner that the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre role be increased and that they be given the financial resources to be able to perform the important task of archiving living artifacts.

The standing committee encourages the new Aboriginal Languages Revitalization Board to review this recommendation.

Recommendation No. 3

It is recommended by the Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories that the $100,000 be restored to the Legislative Assembly language funding.

The standing committee understands that while $100,000 was taken out of the Language Commissioner's budget in 2003-2004 as part of the government-wide cost reduction exercise, the money was reinstated into the base in 2004-2005.

However, because the Language Commissioner's promotional responsibilities have been transferred to the Minister and the new boards effective July 2004, the Language Commissioner's budget was reduced by $156,000 for 2004-2005. One hundred thousand dollars of this was transferred to the Department of Education,

Culture and Employment for the new boards, and $56,000 was returned to the consolidated revenue fund.

Review Of Languages Complaints

The standing committee was disappointed to see that the Languages Commissioner's 2003-2004 annual report still contained very little information about the nature of languages complaints both from prior and present years.

While the Languages Commissioner explained that information about complaints is confidential, the standing committee still thought that general information regarding the type of language involved in complaints, the location of complainants and the process used to mediate said complaints could be provided to them.

As the previous standing committee of the 14th Assembly reported in their review of the Language's Commissioner Annual Report, 2001-2002, "without information with which to better understand the concerns being raised by the public, the standing committee is at a loss to assess the actions of the Commissioner."

The committee has since received additional information from the Languages Commissioner on the complaints submitted to the office in 2003-2004.

Appendices

In addition to the recommendations outlined above, the Languages Commissioner provided responses to the recommendations contained within the Final Report of the Special Committee on the Review of the Official Languages Act (Appendix 1).

The Languages Commissioner also provided a legal opinion to the office of the Languages Commissioner on how the amendments to the Official Languages Act may change the office of the Languages Commissioner (Appendix 3).

The committee would like to comment on two of the issues that were raised in these sections of the report.

Official Languages Board And The Aboriginal Languages Revitalization Board

The committee engaged in considerable discussion regarding the rationale for the creation of the two new boards, and intends to address its concerns with the Minister responsible for Official Languages in the near future.

Languages Commissioner Replacement

The committee recommends that the replacement for the Languages Commissioner should be able to speak at least one of the official languages.

Additional Information

Following its public hearings on the report, the committee asked for and received the following information from the Languages Commissioner:

• • a copy of the Navajo language research project report;
• • information on other research projects;
• • additional information on travel by the Languages Commissioner and staff.

The committee also asked for and received more detailed information on the expenses of the office of the Languages Commissioner from the office of the Clerk.

Conclusion

The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight would like to thank the Languages Commissioner and her staff for the 2003-2004 annual report.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that concludes the report of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight on the review of the Languages Commissioners Annual Report 2003-2004.

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Committee Report 8-15(3) be received and adopted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried,

---Carried

Committee Report 8-15(3) has been received and adopted. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a return to oral question asked by Mr. Menicoche on October 13, 2004, regarding the court worker position in Fort Simpson.

Mr. Speaker, the Legal Services Board of the Northwest Territories has indicated that the court worker position in Fort Simpson will be filled before the end of this fiscal year. Since April of this year, a court worker has been sent in to Fort Simpson once a month for two days to provide assistance to clients wishing to apply for legal aid, and to cover every second Justice of the Peace Court.

A notice is posted at the court worker office advising anyone with questions to call one of the other court workers for assistance. Also, a court worker travels to Fort Simpson to attend Territorial Court sittings.

Mr. Speaker, the Legal Services Board has been actively trying to fill positions across the Northwest Territories on a priority basis. Since April of this year, they have run six competitions to fill positions, including court workers positions in Inuvik and Fort Good Hope, and three family law lawyer positions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take this time to recognize two visitors in the gallery: Mr. Mark Wilson and Mr. Brett Scarf. I believe they are both here to support their children who are acting as Pages today. They were able to find time today to come by and watch their children. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I saw earlier Mr. Dave Legros who is my constituent. I don't know if he is still there, but if he is I would like to welcome him to the House. Thank you.

---Applause