Clause 34.

Clause 35.

Clause 36.

Clause 37.

Clause 38.

Clause 39.

Clause 40.

Bill as a whole?

Does committee agree that Bill 17 is ready for third reading?

Thank you, committee. Bill 17 is now ready for third reading. I would like to thank Mr. Ramsay, Mr. Mercer and Mr. Aitken for their help here today.

Committee, could I ask you please to turn your attention to the Report on the Review of the Report of the Auditor General on the Workers' Compensation Board of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut? This report has already been read into the record. It has been referred to Committee of the Whole for discussion. Are there any general comments? Ms. Lee.

Madam Chair, before we go into general comments, just on the procedural point, the recommendations in this report, are we going to be submitting them by way of motion, or are the recommendations being considered as being read into? Does it require any further action from this committee? Thank you.

Yes, we will be processing the recommendations by way of motion. Those motions will be distributed shortly. Are there any further general comments? Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am very pleased to speak to the report, the work of my colleagues, the work of the Auditor General of Canada and her staff in accepting our request and, of course, the many workers who assisted in bringing to our attention their situation and the remedies that we should be looking at to make for a better WCB.

Madam Chair, my primary interest, as an MLA, is to give voice to my constituents and, in this case, to the many workers who have approached me over the past few years with their stories. Madam Chair, we have a picture of an organization that, for the most part, does a good job of helping the injured workers in a way that it is supposed to. That is to help them through the financial, emotional and physical impacts of their injury and get them back into the workforce. But, Madam Chair, obviously it has not done its very best on the part of some workers. While they all have unique stories to tell, there have been consistent threads in their situations that point to some systemic flaws and problems of due process in governance that must be addressed. That is our purpose here today.

As the Auditor General of Canada helped illustrate, these issues include shortfalls in the training and orientation, the board and the Appeals Tribunal members as well as the staff and front-line workers at the WCB. We know there are issues of interference at the appeals system and of its independence by the board and its executors. This has been proven in two recent court decisions by the courts here in the NWT and in Nunavut.

Madam Chair, we know there are major concerns with the interpretation of the medical evidence and information, especially in cases where the direct cause of an injury or its later consequences for the worker have been muddled in a system that seems more concerned with its bottom line and financial performance than in the well-being of the worker. As MLAs, Madam Chair, these are the people we are here to give voice to today in this Assembly.

Madam Chair, another common theme in their stories has been the endless treadmill of appeals, reviews and medical assessments they have had to endure in trying to get some resolution of their case. One worker infamously has been in the system for 19 years and is still awaiting justice. Despite his successful battle in the courts, Ivan Valic still awaits a new Appeals Tribunal, now 10 months after it was ordered by the Supreme Court of the NWT.

Madam Chair, some workers have experienced unusual degrees of surveillance as the WCB tracks workers for potential fraud. Some are addicted to some form of pain killer to try to manage their situation. Most have suffered anguish and hurt in their personal lives or in their personal and family lives. This is an aspect of the consequence of

the injured worker that is all too often hidden. I know of workers, Madam Chair, who have become obsessed with their cases and their pursuit of what they believe they should get from the WCB. This obsession recognized in some corners, I understand, as WCB syndrome, tears at their sense of well-being and, in the same process, tears up their personal, professional and social lives. To these workers, their inability to get some resolution from the WCB casts a wide net. Madam Chair, those spouses and children pay a terrible price as their partners and parents lose their pride, their sense of purpose and, of course, at least part of their income. The home is, in some cases, devastated.

Our job as standing committee is to take the findings of the Auditor General, the stories of our constituents, the information provided by the WCB officials, the recommendations made by the Act Now panel of five years ago and present a report to the Legislative Assembly on what we think should be done to remedy these problems. This report was indeed tabled and read into the record of this Assembly last week.

Madam Chair, it is vitally important that we take this job seriously and with a sense of resolve, purpose and optimism that we can make the changes needed. As legislators, we have a unique role to shape the WCB that does its job to the fullest extent possible for both workers and employers.

Madam Chair, as our NWT economy expands at incredible speed, so does the number of workers and businesses attracted to this part of Canada. We all need a WCB we can have confidence in. That should be our vision and our purpose today, Madam Chair. Thank you. That concludes my general comments.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Are there any further general comments? Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to start off by thanking everybody that was involved in putting this report together. That includes the Workers' Compensation Board of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut and, as well, the injured workers who were talking to many of us through this whole process, and the Auditor General of Canada who took us by the hand and helped us through this process. I think they are owed a great debt of gratitude. As well, I do want to mention Mr. Braden and his work in the area of helping injured workers. He is a real champion of the cause for injured workers. I think he is owed a great debt of gratitude as well in this whole process. Thank you, Mr. Braden.

I do look forward to us getting to where we need to go with the Workers' Compensation Board. There are nine recommendations contained in this report that I think, if acted upon by the Workers' Compensation Board, it will help get us there. There are also changes upcoming to legislation that could certainly help as well. I think by working together with the Governance Council of WCB, the Minister, the Government of the Northwest Territories and injured workers, I think we can get to where we need to go to. This report is long overdue. I am glad to see it here on the floor of the Legislative Assembly today so we can pass these motions and we can try to make a difference, especially for those folks who have encountered difficulties in dealing with the WCB and long-outstanding claims. With that, Madam Chair, I just want to, again, thank everybody involved in putting this report together. Mahsi.