For the fifth year in a row, the Commissioner's report addressed the lack of access and privacy legislation for municipal governments, and 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 committee considers access to information and protection of privacy standards to be an essential part of 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. The committee points out that it can also be a substantial burden for municipal staff to respond to information requests, from the public, without the benefit of legislation to guide decision-making.
The GNWT has identified several challenges to address before municipal governments would be in a position to comply with new information and privacy legislation. First, there are concerns with how the act would impact day-to-day operations and general administration of the municipalities. Second, there are concerns relating to the cost of administering the act and whether the additional money to cover the cost of implementation would be added to municipalities' base funding. Finally, there is need for additional training for ATIPP and records management. In addition, the GNWT has committed to clarify how the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, PIPEDA, which came into full force on January 1, 2004, will impact municipalities, and report to the committee in the fall of 2005. The committee looks forward to reviewing this report. Committee members also recognize that addressing these challenges will require support and continued effort from municipalities and from the GNWT.