Mahsi, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the committee wishes to consider Bill 13, Change of Name Act; Bill 14, Employment Standards Act; and Bill 19, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act. Mahsi, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Is the committee agreed?

Thank you. We'll do that after a short break.

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Thank you. I would like to call committee of the Whole to order. The first order of business is dealing with Bill 13, Change of Name Act. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland, to please introduce the bill.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to introduce Bill 13, Change of Name Act. This bill replaces the current Change of Name Act.

The bill transfers administrative responsibility for change of name from the court to the registrar general of vital statistics, Department of Health and Social Services. This change will give NWT residents the ability to request a legal change of name through an administrative process that is easy to understand and follow, similar to that in other Canadian jurisdictions.

In keeping with the Human Rights Act of the Northwest Territories, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, provisions in the bill give equal rights to both married and common-law spouses to assume their spouse's name without application under the act. These provisions are important to avoid discrimination against those in common-law relationships, including spouses in same-sex unions.

Applications involving children will be more efficient and economical. An applicant can jointly request that the names of minor children also be changed rather than having to submit separate applications for each child. Any application to change the name of a minor child will require the consent of the other parents, and an application to the Supreme Court will be necessary to dispense with this consent if doing so would be in the best interest of the child.

The bill also provides for two levels of appeal if an applicant or any person wishes to object or appeal a decision made by the registrar general, including an opportunity to appeal to the court if necessary.

This bill includes stricter measures to address identity theft and other security concerns to bring the act in line with current and emerging practices in other jurisdictions. For example, name changes will be published in the Northwest Territories Gazette, and notification of name changes will be given to authorities such as the RCMP. The bill defines acceptable identification for determining the identity of an applicant, and applicants will be required to surrender certain identification with their application to reduce the changes of individuals having primary identification in more than one name. There are also provisions that will allow confidential name changes to protect the safety of certain applicants.

That concludes my opening remarks. I would be pleased to answer any questions Members may have.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. I will now ask Ms. Lee, chairperson for the Social Programs committee, the committee that reviewed the bill, to provide committee's comments on the bill. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Standing Committee on Social Programs conducted hearings on Bill 13, Change of Name Act, between June 6 and June 15, 2007. Combined with the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight members, the committee split into northern and southern groups seeking input from as many communities as possible within this time frame. Meetings took place in Fort Smith, Hay River, Jean Marie River, Fort Simpson, Yellowknife, Behchoko, Gameti, Tulita, Tsiigehtchic and Inuvik. The clause-by-clause review with the Minister took place on August 13, 2007. The committee would like to thank all participants for their contributions during these meetings, and the Minister of Health and Social Services and his staff for providing this bill.

Bill 13 will replace the existing Change of Name Act. Similar to other Canadian jurisdictions, legal name changes will be possible through an administrative process rather than a court process. People will be able to change their name by applying to the registrar general of vital statistics of the Department of Health and Social Services. The bill includes provisions for which documents are admissible for the determination of the identity of an applicant. Certain identification documents have to be surrendered with an application to reduce the chances of an individual having primary identification in more than one name. Once approved by the registrar, the name will be entered in the change of name register. Notices will be published and certain authorities like the RCMP, the courts and the maintenance enforcement office will be notified. These measures address identity theft and other security concerns.

The bill also gives equal rights to both married and common-law spouses, as defined in section 1 of the Family Law Act, to assume their spouse's name without application under the act. The committee understands that applications involving young children will become more efficient.

During the community hearings, committee heard from more than one person who experienced problems when trying to revert back to their original name after government had caused a name change in the past. For example, John Itsi, a Tsiigehtchic resident, expressed his frustration with the process. "Since I was a child, I have had my name changed four times by the government. Every time I try to get them to change it, different bureaucrats go and check that person and go and check that other person and you get fed up talking with different people. You are phoning all the time and you have to pay to phone. They write you letters and ask for your original birth certificate, which you can't find and they want $250 to change my name. They are the ones who changed my name. They should give me back my original name for nothing."

Section 20 of the proposed bill gives the registrar the discretionary power to waive fees and the committee encourages the government to make it a practice to do so if the government caused the original name change.

Mr. Chair, this concluded the committee's opening comments on Bill 13. Individual members may have questions and comments as we proceed. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Ms. Lee. Now I would like to ask the Minister if he would like to bring in witnesses.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Does the committee agree that we bring in witnesses?

Thank you. Bring in some witnesses.

Thank you. Minister Roland, please introduce the witnesses you have with you today.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, to my right is the deputy minister of the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Chuck Parker; and, to my left, Mr. Mark Aitken, director of legislation, Department of Justice.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Welcome to Mr. Parker and Mr. Aitken to our proceedings this afternoon. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 13. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The question of the transfer, I am in full support of it. I am asking in terms of the support the registrar general in vital statistics will have on the amount of work that possibly could be forthcoming with regard to this legislation. Do we have the support now in the existing system with the existing issues we deal with today? Do we have the support for this change in vital statistics in terms of this new legislation being discussed? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in reviewing this file and the bill, the department feels the department can deal with an additional workload with the support staff that's in place. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The department may feel they can deal with the existing workloads and future workloads of this here; however, I heard some concerns in my region that sometimes these issues take six months to a year to get the information to the people because of the limited resources in the office of vital stats; a simple request for a birth certificate or issues of certificates of marriage and so on. So I am very concerned. I just wanted to make sure again that they know what they are walking into.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the office, indeed in the past, has had some problems dealing with the workload issues within that office. We have paid some attention recently to how that office has been functioning and we've been informed now that they are up to par on all their files and we will continue to monitor the situation. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Anything further, Mr. Yakeleya?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the Minister has indicated, they will continue monitoring the situation and the people in my region will continue monitoring this also and duly report back as we see fit. However, Mr. Chair, I want to say one thing. I do support this legislation. I am looking at the types of issues that will be forthcoming in the next couple of months around issues on the residential school issues and them working with the federal government on a different avenue and situations where some of the students that were in residential school who do not have this type of information. As Ms. Lee alluded to regarding John Itsi in Tsiigehtchic and how he explained this situation to us, I look forward on how to deal with issues like that at a community level. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we have, in fact, in cases already in that area, been involved in helping individuals prove their name and identification along those lines, so we will continue to work along those lines.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Anything further, Mr. Yakeleya? No? Next on the list for general comments I have Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to also add my support for the lines of comments that the Member for Sahtu has already mentioned and to put on record to make sure adequate resources and preparations

are put in place in the Inuvik office to carry out the provisions of this legislation.

This is important legislation. While it may not be as sexy as other things like...I don't know. I guess there is lots of sexy legislation. This is sort of the nuts and bolts the government is responsible for and if not done properly, it could cause a lot of headache and hardship for our residents. Interestingly enough, this is an issue that has come to my desk a number of times and I am sure to others. There are many of us who have been born with a name and never have to change it for the rest of their lives, but there are many others who have to change their name. In the process, governments do make mistakes or there might be aboriginal people who have had to change their names or Anglicize their names, in some cases. There are immigrants who have come into the country and sometimes are forced to, or choose to, change their names to more friendly English names from their original names. Our opening statement only spoke about changes in marital status and such, but there are lots of other cases where something that seems to be a simple and straightforward name isn't that simple a process.

Until this legislation came about, people had to go through the court process. I do understand that the impetus came from the court side too because administratively, they would rather that they didn't have to be responsible for this responsibility and it's better we are putting it into another wing of a government office. But for the users of the name change, it was a rather intimidating process to have to file a court application to have their name changed and it's quite costly, cumbersome and intimidating.

So in that aspect, I think it's good for both parties that we are enacting legislation that would do away with that process. I just want to ask the Minister once again to make sure that resources are placed properly to get this done.

I think the legislation sets out step by step, in detail, what has to take place to have the change affected. In order for that to go smoothly, the staff responsible will have to be given proper resources and training to make that happen. Having said that though, I would like to ask the Minister to do what he can to see that this legislation comes into force as soon as possible. So I would like to ask the Minister as to when we should expect to see legislation in place. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Member brings up a number of good issues that we feel this bill will address: simplifying the process, making it easier for individuals to change their name. As well, one of the factors within this bill will be the consideration when we look in the area of fees, there would be allowances that we could deal with a nil or nominal fee when it comes to names that have been changed where the government had made that change or forced an individual to change their name. So that could be taken into consideration, as well. We are anticipating the bill will come into force April 1, 2008.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Next on the list for general comments I have Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have one quick question with regard to the Minister's opening remarks regarding authorities; for example, the RCMP. Is there any authority you are looking at that can be included? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Minister Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, there are other areas as well that we would be looking at and one of the other areas would be the maintenance enforcement office would be another area we would notify would be other individuals who are faced with that, would do that as well. Once this is done and the name is changed, it would be published in the Northwest Territories Gazette.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Anything further, Mr. Pokiak?

Yes, Mr. Chairman. Just to follow up, will it be a really quick process if a request is given to the department for disclosing information? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Minister Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as we proceed with this and go to implementation, one of the things we will be working on is a transition plan looking at certain areas such as timing and how things will flow. That's one of the things we will take into consideration. Of course, there would be some cases because we will have to work with individuals and do the notification; there may be some time lag as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Next on the list for general comments I have Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you. Just for clarification, I wasn't on this committee that went to public hearings or considered this Change of Name Act. It says Bill 13 will replace the existing Change of Name Act similar to other Canadian jurisdictions. Legal name changes will be possible through an administrative process rather than a court process. There's a highly publicized case in the media just in the last couple of weeks about a couple who were living in Quebec. I think the bride was from Ontario and, in fact, in Quebec, she could not change her name to her spouse's name in Quebec. There was only two criteria that would allow you to change your name to your spouse's name and one was if your name would lead to ridicule of some kind and the other was something else like that. So when you say similar to other jurisdictions, I just want to clarify here, then, when it says the bill gives equal rights to married and common-law spouses, as defined in section 1 of the Family Law Act, to assume their spouse's name without application under the act. So, in fact, not only do you not have to go to court to change your name, as they do in Quebec, to your spouse's name, but you don't even have to make an application under the act. It's just automatically approved and you can take on the name of your spouse. Can the Minister just clarify that for me?

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Minister Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, there will be a couple of routes that will be determined as an application is made or as the process is established what we are going to. Not wanting to confuse the issue, I will have Mr. Parker give some detail on that and how it works.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Mr. Parker.

Thank you, Mr. Parker. Anything further, Mrs. Groenewegen?

So they would still have to make an application under this act to change their name to their spouse's name. They would still have to make an application under this act. It says they are allowed to assume their spouse's name without application under the act. It says that in Ms. Lee's comments. So they would still have to make an application. Am I correct? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Minister Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will have Mr. Aitken provide some technical detail on that.

Thank you, Minister Roland. Mr. Aitken.

Thank you, Mr. Aiken. Is there anything further, Mrs. Groenewegen?

So just to clarify then, in fact, Mr. Chair, this is unique legislation in the fact that this does not coincide with other Canadian jurisdictions; for example, Quebec. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Minister Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it does not coincide with Quebec, but it does coincide with other jurisdictions. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Roland. I am going to let Mrs. Groenewegen assume the chair.

General comments. I have Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to pick up on an issue that Mr. Yakeleya was talking about earlier and that was the change of name. When we were on the road with legislation earlier this year, we were in Tsiigehtchic and we met up with a gentleman who had told us his name had been changed no less than four times during his life. He was originally from Old Crow in the Yukon. His family had moved east and settled in Tsiigehtchic. He has had an interesting time in trying to understand who is responsible for getting him and his family their name back. Is it the federal government? Is it the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs? Is it our government? Who can this individual talk to to get his name back for himself and for his family? I think that is an identity we all have. We are born into this world as our name. It is very important that he gets his name back, Madam Chair. So I would like to know that.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, unfortunately, this is more common than a lot of people realize. In the North, many years ago, the federal government actually went around and assigned people new names because they could not write or pronounce the aboriginal names of people in the Territories. At least, that is what has been said. I have had that told to me as well. In the Mackenzie Delta, there was a commission that went around and gave individuals English names. That can be very difficult now to try to go back to some of those. But the process we will have established once this comes into force, it will clarify how that can be done in changing back to the person's name, the birth name they were given. Their aboriginal name as well would be looked at. As for the actual process of what support could be in place, we would have to work that out in the transition plan of what is available. If it goes back to what we can do with the federal government or whose responsibility it is, well, obviously, with the federal government setting that up and going around and having people's names changed, it was very difficult. I think, in the existing system, with the old act in place and having to go to court, it is very difficult when you are from a small community, isolated, trying to get all of the pieces lined up so you can provide the documentation and go before the court, pay the fees and follow through in that process. It makes it quite difficult. This process would make it a bit easier. There still needs to be some documentation, but it would make it a bit easier and the process simpler to go back to that person's original name. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am glad to hear the Minister say that it is an important matter. I just want to understand a little bit better. I believe the committee is asking the government to make it a practice to waive the $250 fee for individuals who have had their name changed by no fault of their own, by the government or by whoever showed up in the community years ago and said your name is going to change from this to that. It is not their fault. I don't think they should, under any circumstance, have to pay $250 to have their name changed back to what it originally was. In fact, given specifically this gentleman, his heartfelt explanation of what happened to him, I would encourage the government to set up at least a contact person. When you are an individual person in a community like Tsiigehtchic, it is very hard to get the documents, to talk to somebody, to understand the system, to find out what is going on, and how to make things right and get your name changed. I

think if we had a single point of contact for individuals who are in the same situation as Mr. Itsi is in Tsiigehtchic, that would make things a lot easier for residents in our communities who have had this practice done to them in the past and can get their original name back. I would like to ask the Minister, is the department going to take a look at setting up a single point of contact for individuals who want to get their name back? Can we do that? Can we assign that task to a person in the Inuvik office, South Slave office, a person in the North Slave office, so that individuals in the small communities know who to talk to? Because right now, they get the run around. They talk to six different people and get six different answers on who is responsible. Let's try to fix this, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, in fact, with this bill going ahead and dealing with it through the health services administration office up in Inuvik, it is one office. The workload is broken up between individuals in that office for different areas. So this would fall into that pattern and would make it much simpler as we proceed forward.

Yes, as I stated earlier, on the issue of when names were changed by no fault of their own or an action by the government through regulations, we would look at establishing a process where, if it is by no fault of their own, we could put a nominal fee in or no fee at all. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That is fine and good, but who can an individual call today, a gentleman in Tsiigehtchic, who can they call specifically today to address the issue of their name being changed no less than four times and wanting it changed back to their original name? Who in the bureaucracy can they call today so that they can have one point of contact and they can get the issue dealt with? Is there anybody they can talk to to get that rectified? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the process as of today is under the old act and the courts would be the place or the avenue that would proceed. As of April 1, 2008, it will be through the Department of Health and Social Services vital statistics area, the health services administration. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I should rephrase my question a little bit differently. Under the new legislation, is there going to be a single point of contact for individuals who have had their name changed so that they can phone somebody? There should be somebody in each and every region in the Northwest Territories so that there is that one point of contact so that a file can be developed and their name could be changed back to what it originally was.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we have only one office that deals with these functions. It is the health services administration office up in Inuvik. As it is stated, during the process of establishing this and coming into force, we will have a transition plan put in place. As I am aware of today, the way the office works, different files are given to different individuals in that office. Once that is done, we can clearly make that available to all people in the Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think I heard a commitment from the Minister to have a single point of contact. If it is in Inuvik, it is in Inuvik. If we can't have one in each region, it is okay if there is a phone number. For an individual to phone when it goes back 50 or 60 years when their name was changed, I think it is very important that they have some peace of mind that somebody somewhere is going to care and somebody somewhere is actually going to do something about it and get their name changed back to what it originally was. I am glad to hear the Minister say that. By the looks of things, under the new legislation, that will happen through the transition. I am very happy to hear that, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, as we go through a transition plan and implementation in putting this act into force, we will, as the office has already shown a number of files they have dedicated to different individuals in that office and will be working with them as we go through implementation in having this act come into force. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. General comments. Detail. There are 26 clauses in this bill. I will ask Members if they will turn in their binders to Bill 17, Change of Name Act. Sorry, I have no glasses on. Bill 13, Change of Name Act. Clause 1.

Clause 2.

Clause 3.

Clause 4.

Clause 5.

Clause 6.

Clause 7.

Clause 8.

Clause 9.

Clause 10.

Clause 11.

Clause 12.

If I can ask Members, when we are calling out the clauses, does it help to read out the subtitles or the area that clauses are related to? Okay. Clause 13.

Clause 14.

Clause 15.

Clause 16.

Clause 17.

Clause 18.

Clause 19.

Clause 20.

Clause 21.