Thank you, committee. I’d like to call on the Minister responsible to see if he would like to introduce comments on the bill. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am here today to present Bill 20, Vital Statistics Act.

Mr. Chairman, the current legislation evolved from the Vital Statistics Ordinance that was enacted in January 1927. There have only been minor amendments to this act over the years and, as a result, the administrative processes are extremely outdated and do not reflect best practices. The registration procedures in this proposed act will make the process to register an event more efficient and easier for the public and will also remove the provisions in the existing act that are discriminatory.

The bill addresses the birth registration issues that make the current act vulnerable to legal challenge. The proposed act recognizes the constitutional right of a father to have his information listed on his child’s birth record despite being unacknowledged by the mother, and is modernized to reflect recent advances in assisted human reproduction technologies. The person who is in a spousal relationship with the mother at the time of conception will be able to register as a parent at the time of birth, whether the spouse is male or female. The registration process will be substantially the same, whether the child was conceived by assisted

or natural reproduction to ensure that the child’s birth is registered and legal parentage is established as soon as possible after birth.

This will meet the obligations under the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which Canada is a signatory.

The proposed registration process recognizes the birth mother link, the spousal relationship with the mother at the time of conception and the intent to parent the child. These principles are consistent with 10 years of policy and legal analysis around legal parentage done at a federal/provincial/territorial level that has culminated in the recent adoption of the Child Status Act by the Uniform Law Conference of Canada. Consequential amendments to the NWT’s Children Law Act are being proposed in Bill 20 so that the GNWT framework respecting parentage is consistent.

In keeping with the approach in the Child Status Act, complex registrations will require the involvement of the court. The Registrar General of Vital Statistics does not have the capacity to weigh evidence concerning the rights of the child and parents. Such matters are better left to a judge to consider in ensuring that the best interests of the child are met. The proposed act contains provisions to direct the Registrar General to amend birth registrations according to parentage decisions directed by the court.

The proposed Vital Statistics Act continues to provide for the registration of marriage, death and stillbirth, and amendments to records based on adoption orders and changes of name that occur in the NWT. The language of these provisions was updated and now better reflects modern administrative practices used in other jurisdictions.

The proposed death registration section now includes the ability to register a death without a body. Mr. Chairman, this provision would only be used in rare circumstances described in the Coroner’s Act where a body is not recoverable. An example might be a person being witnessed falling through the ice. Under the Coroner’s Act, the coroner has the authority to investigate such a death but the current Vital Statistics Act does not give the Registrar General the discretion to register the death.

Lastly, Mr. Chairman, the proposed new act also includes specific information management provisions to protect vital statistics records and to give the Registrar General authority to enter into information sharing agreements where necessary and appropriate. For example, death registrations of residents born in another jurisdiction are routinely shared between vital statistics offices in Canada so that birth registration documents can be notated. This reduces the possibility of identity theft as a flag is raised when a birth certificate of a deceased

person is applied for. Formal information sharing agreements will ensure that the use of the information provided is restricted to a specific purpose. For this reason, where there is a conflict with the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Vital Statistics Act provision will be paramount.

I look forward to discussing this important piece of legislation with the Members. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Next I would like to invite Chairman Beaulieu, Standing Committee on Social Programs, to make comments on the bill.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Standing Committee on Social Programs held a public hearing on August 15, 2011, to review Bill 20, Vital Statistics Act.

This is an important new act to replace one that was seriously out of date, and sets out the process of registering the most important events in people’s lives: births, deaths, marriages, adoptions and name changes. It is modern legislation that takes into account recent court rulings respecting same sex partners and other matters. There are provisions for electronic records and more efficient administration.

Following the clause-by-clause review with the Minister, a motion was carried to report Bill 20 to the Assembly as ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole.

This concludes committee’s general comments on Bill 20. Individual committee members may have questions or comments as we proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. I would like to ask the Minister if he wishes to bring in witnesses. Mr. Miltenberger.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Minister. I’d like to ask if committee agrees.

Thank you, committee. I would like to ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.

Minister Miltenberger, if you would introduce your witnesses.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me Lisa Cardinal, director of policy, planning and evaluation, and Mr. Mark Aitken from the Department of Justice. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Welcome, witnesses. Next we will go to general comments on the bill. General comments?

Thank you, committee. No general comments. Request for detail. Does committee agree we go clause by clause?

Thank you, committee. We’ll go to a clause-by-clause review of the bill. If committee agrees, we’ll go in groups of 10. There are quite a number of clauses in the bill. Committee agree?

Thank you. We’ll start by turning to page 11. Committee, clauses 1 to 10.

---Clauses 1 through 10 inclusive approved

Clauses 11 to 20.

---Clauses 11 through 20 inclusive approved

Clauses 21 to 30.

---Clauses 21 through 30 inclusive approved

We are on page 25. Clauses 31 to 40.

---Clauses 31 through 40 inclusive approved

Clauses 41 to 50.

---Clauses 41 through 50 inclusive approved

Clauses 51 to 60.

---Clauses 51 through 60 inclusive approved

Clauses 61 to 70.

---Clauses 61 through 70 inclusive approved

Clauses 71 to 80.

---Clauses 71 through 80 inclusive approved