Bill as a whole?

Does committee agree that Bill 20 is ready for third reading?

Bill 20 is now ready for third reading. At this time, I would like to thank the Minister and his staff for coming down. Thank you.

Welcome back, committee. At this time, we will proceed with Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act. Does committee agree?

Can Minister Bell please introduce the bill? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to come before the Committee of the Whole to discuss Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act.

This bill would amend the Territorial Court Act to allow for more efficient, cost-effective administration. Amendments relate primarily to the Judicial Remuneration Commission and the to Territorial Court judges.

Currently, the act provides that the NWT Judicial Remuneration Commission must hold an inquiry every three years to set judges' salaries and benefits. GNWT pays the entire cost of these inquiries which totalled over $200,000 in 2001 and $300,000 in 2004. This bill, Mr. Chairman, would reduce cost to the GNWT by increasing the time between inquiries spreading costs over a longer period.

The bill would also allow complaints about judges to be reviewed more quickly. Currently, a subcommittee must review all complaints to the Judicial Council. It would be faster and more effective to allow the chairperson of the Judicial Council to refer minor complaints about Territorial Court judges to the chief judge. Serious complaints would continue, Mr. Chairman, to be referred to a subcommittee of the Judicial Council.

Finally, this bill would clarify the residency requirement for judicial candidates. Currently, the act could be interpreted as requiring a person to be resident in the NWT in order to be eligible for appointment as a territorial judge. It's necessary for judges to reside in the Territories during the term of their appointments. However, requiring candidates to live here before being eligible for appointment may not be compliant with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The proposed amendment, Mr. Chairman, corrects the problem.

The judiciary and the Law Society of the NWT have been consulted and they do not object to the proposed changes. I would be pleased to answer questions the committee may have about this bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. At this time, I would like to recognize Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee on Social Programs held public hearings on Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Territorial Court Act, on December 5th, 2005 in Yellowknife; on December 6, 2005, in Enterprise and Kakisa; and on December 7th in Fort Providence and Behchoko. The clause-by-clause review of the bill took place in Yellowknife on January 31, 2006.

Bill 12 includes an amendment that allows for the appointment of non-resident judges, although once appointed they would be required to relocate to the NWT. While the committee does not have concerns with this specific amendment, Members do wish to underline the importance of northern experience and familiarity with northern culture and the selection criteria for judges.

Following the clause-by-clause review, a motion was carried to report Bill 12 to the Assembly as ready for Committee of the Whole. This concludes the committee's general comments on Bill 12. Individual committee members may have questions or comments as we proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. At this time, I would like to ask the Minister if he would like to bring in witnesses.

Yes, I would, Mr. Chairman.

Does committee agree?

Sergeant-at-Arms, please bring in the witnesses.

Mr. Minister, at this time can you introduce your witnesses, please?

I have Reg Tolton, assistant deputy minister; and Rebecca Veinott, legislative counsel.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. General comments. To the principle of the bill. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just for the record, I just wanted to confirm my understanding of the purpose and intent of this bill. I do support the bill. Obviously it's a minor amendment and I understand this to be a bill that would make it possible for there to be a judge appointed who is not necessarily from here, but that would not necessarily be the main practice. I do think the general sentiment up here is that wherever possible, that we will be appointing judges that are from here and you have to be a lawyer to be a judge in this country. So I would think that you would first look at lawyers in the North to be considered for any judicial appointments.

I understand for the higher level of courts here, judges do come from outside the jurisdiction and because of the workload and sometimes conflicts, sometimes you have to...So for higher courts, there is still a Court of Appeal for Alberta and obviously I don't know if there is a question there. I won't go there. Sometimes we need to use judges who are not resident here, too.

I understand this to be a practical thing and to build in some flexibility to where our judges come from, but it's not in any way to dilute our desire to have, wherever possible, the judges to be appointed from the North. I just want to try to state my understanding of this bill and to support it in that way. If I didn't get my information right, he is welcome to correct that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, I believe the Member is correct in her interpretation of our intent and I think Members will know the three recent appointments to Territorial Court, the three recent judges, are all from the

NWT bar and I suspect that that will likely continue to be the case. We will have most of our judges come from the local bar. This is in no way attempting to change that. In looking at the provisions around residency, we were concerned that there was a problem here potentially and that you can imagine the scenario where you might have somebody who has practiced in the Territories for many years, takes a job outside the jurisdiction, Nunavut or in the South for six months and there's an opening on the bench and would make a great candidate but wouldn't be eligible if they weren't resident. We don't want to exclude people in a situation like that. So this is not to indicate that we are looking to fill our bench with lawyers from the South. This is to suggest that we needed to clarify this point in the legislation and we were concerned about the provisions potentially being interpreted the wrong way and running afoul of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Next I have Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chair, I want to ask the Minister, in light of the federal government's new process of selecting or hiring judges at a higher level within Canada, this is probably more of an opinion, but I would like this thoughts on is the Territories still going to look at a similar thing in the future? Right now we talk about the appointment of a judge and right now there is different ramifications and different meanings, but the process of selecting a judge is going to be handled differently now in Canada. How is this reflected and have an impact on the justice system in the Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.