Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to be here to speak to Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Evidence Act. I would like to thank the Standing Committee on Social Programs for its review of this bill.

The Evidence Act defines the prohibitions relating to the use of evidence in actions that are brought

before a court under the laws of the Northwest Territories. The current act contains provisions that allow for the creation of committees that play a role in the health care system in the Northwest Territories. These committees have the authority to study, investigate or evaluate the hospital practice or hospital care provided by professionals in a hospital setting.

The current act contains prohibitions on how information arising from a committee proceeding can be used in the context of a legal proceeding. In particular, the act prohibits any individual, in the course of a legal proceeding, from answering any question relating to a committee proceeding. The act also prohibits the production of a document in the course of a legal proceeding if the document was produced by a committee that was established in accordance of the act. These prohibitions are sometime referred to as “protections” that are available to committees under the act.

The main purpose of the bill is to effectively expand the definition of “committee” under the act. The impact of this change will be twofold. First, it will mean that committees which are established to examine specific incidents involving the provision of health services will be afforded protection under the act. Second, committees which are established to examine the provision of health services across the territorial health care system will also receive protection under the act.

The reality of health care delivery in the North is that a patient will often be cared for in a number of ways within the territorial health system depending on their health needs, and this may involve more than one clinic or hospital within one or more authorities, or even during a medevac flight. It is important for patient safety that any incident can be comprehensively reviewed so that all health care professionals can learn from any recommendations that come out of the review. Protection under the Evidence Act is necessary to make quality assurance reviews effective as it will ensure complete and full disclosure from all health care providers involved.

The need to amend the Evidence Act was raised by the Department of Health and Social Services.

I would be pleased to answer any questions that the committee members may have regarding Bill 20. Mahsi.