Mr. Speaker, I would like to provide a report from the Standing Committee on Government Operations on the 2006–2007 Annual Report from the Official Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories.

The Standing Committee on Government Operations met on April 9, 2008, to review the 2006–2007 Annual Report of the Languages Commissioner. The committee would like to thank Ms. Shannon Gullberg for appearing before us.

The committee is glad to see that the commission’s web site is now operational and information about the complaints process is available in all official

languages. The committee looks forward to seeing the resolution of technical problems, the correction of translation errors and the timely posting of newly released commissioner reports in the near future.

During the 15th Assembly the Standing Committee

on Accountability and Oversight encouraged the commissioner in this report to step up her efforts to publicize her office, particularly by undertaking community visits to meet with stakeholders and to raise public awareness about her role and mandate. The committee was therefore disappointed to hear that the commissioner’s plans to visit Rae, Inuvik and Fort Smith in early 2007 to conduct community and school meetings and to visit health centres were not realized. The committee is also concerned that none of the commissioner’s $28,000 travel budget was spent and that the number of inquiries decreased to 11 during the 2006–2007 fiscal year.

Members discussed these concerns with the commissioner, suggesting that the low numbers of inquiries and complaints demonstrate that the public is not well aware of the office and role of the Languages Commissioner. Most inquiries came from Yellowknife and were primarily private sector requests for information. The committee also noted that only one complaint was filed and that the commissioner did not conduct any investigations on her own initiative during the 2006–2007 reporting time frame.

The committee urges the commissioner to become more active in planning community visits to promote her role and office and looks forward to seeing the results of her plans to make community visits and promotion of her office the priority in 2008–2009.

Mr. Speaker, I will ask the committee’s deputy chair to continue delivering this report.