WHEREAS nine Canadian provinces and the Yukon Territory have parliamentary ombudsman offices;

AND WHEREAS the Northwest Territories does not have an independent ombudsman office with a broad and comprehensive mandate to investigate complaints about the practices and services of public agencies and to promote fair, reasonable, appropriate, and equitable administrative practices and services for Northwest Territories residents;

AND WHEREAS an independent ombudsman office could provide an alternative to the courts to address both individual disputes and systemic issues;

AND WHEREAS an independent ombudsman office could make use of consultation, mediation and other alternative dispute resolution techniques which are generally less adversarial, less expensive, and less technically complex than court processes, and would be more accessible for most Northwest Territories residents;

AND WHEREAS in addition to investigating and assisting in the resolution of complaints, an independent ombudsman could make recommendations to public agencies to improve administrative processes and services to the benefit of all Northwest Territories residents;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that this Legislative Assembly recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories bring forward legislation to establish an independent parliamentary ombudsman office with the mandate to investigate complaints about the practices and services of public agencies and to promote fair, reasonable, appropriate, and equitable administrative practices and services;

AND FURTHER, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a comprehensive response to this motion within 120 days.