Thank you, Premier McLeod. Do you have witnesses to bring into the House?

Yes, I do.

Committee agree?

Premier McLeod, please reintroduce your witnesses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my immediate right is Martin Goldney, deputy minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations; to my far right is Thomas Druyan,

legislative counsel for the Department of Justice; and to my left is Jamie Fulford, legal counsel, Department of Justice. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Committee, we are reviewing Bill 17, Northwest Territories Intergovernmental Resources Revenue Sharing Agreement Act. General comments?

Committee has agreed to go to detail. Clause 1.

---Clauses 1 through 6 inclusive approved

Bill as a whole?

Does committee agree that Bill 17, Northwest Territories Intergovernmental Resources Revenue Sharing Agreement Act is ready for third reading?

---Bill 17 as a whole approved for third reading

Thank you, witnesses. Thank you, Premier McLeod. I will ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witnesses out of the Chamber.

Next we have Bill 4, Health Information Act. I will ask Minister Abernethy if he has opening comments.

I am pleased to be here today to discuss Bill 4, Health Information Act. This bill is detailed and complex. It deals with highly sensitive content – the personal health information of patients – and is fundamental to enabling the health system to provide better care to residents of the Northwest Territories.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner has repeatedly called on this government to move forward with health-specific privacy legislation. The Information and Privacy Commissioner has supported the Health Information Act as a way to ensure that patients’ information is properly protected, and that there is transparency and clear limits on how the health system can use and share patients’ personal health information.

Through the Health Information Act, I believe we successfully created a comprehensive and balanced approach to health privacy in the Northwest Territories. Patient information will be protected appropriately with specific safeguard requirements that reflect today’s electronic health environment.

The necessary health professionals within a patient’s circle of care will have access to the information they need to provide better care, but they will not be allowed access to patient information beyond what they need. The government lead on privacy currently rests with the Department of Justice. However, with the Health

Information Act, the Department of Health and Social Services will lead on health privacy.

On that note, delivering a public awareness campaign has always been an essential part of the department’s implementation plans for the HIA. We recognize the importance of ensuring that the public, staff and other stakeholders understand what this significant piece of legislation means for patient and practitioner rights and obligations.

We currently have posted on our website frequently asked questions about the bill and a plain language summary of the safeguard measures the Health Information Act would include. Before bringing the Health Information Act into force we would carry out more substantial public awareness activities. The department’s implementation plans also include the development and ongoing update of a user-friendly staff manual as well as the ongoing delivery of easily accessible on-line and in-person training and workshops for staff across the Northwest Territories.

I am pleased to say that during the drafting of the bill, the department undertook extensive consultations with a range of stakeholders, including:

•

the Information and Privacy Commissioner;

•

the NWT Medical Association;

•

the NWT Pharmaceutical Association;

• the Registered Nurses Association of the NWT

and Nunavut;

• the Canadian Medical Protective Association;

and

•

Canada Health Infoway.

During standing committee’s review of the bill, I was happy to be able to share numerous resource documents with the committee and to answer all of the Members’ questions on this detailed, complex piece of legislation.

I would be pleased to answer any questions Members may have today. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. I will turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Programs, the committee that considered the bill, for opening comments. Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Earlier today the Standing Committee on Social Programs tabled its report on Bill 4, Health Information Act. Bill 4 is the product of work undertaken over the better part of a decade to develop health-specific privacy legislation for the Northwest Territories.

The Standing Committee on Social Programs commends the Minister for developing the bill. With its passing, the Northwest Territories will join a

growing number of Canadian jurisdictions that have enacted legislation of this kind.

During the review, written and oral comments were provided by numerous stakeholders and private citizens. Comments prepared by the Information and Privacy Commissioner were especially insightful.

The committee would like to thank all stakeholders and citizens who helped to strengthen the committee’s review of the bill.

The committee conducted a public hearing on the bill on February 20, 2014. A clause-by-clause review was conducted on March 10, 2014, during which the committee proposed and adopted two amendments with the concurrence of the Minister. A motion was then carried to report Bill 4 as amended and reprinted to the Assembly.

This concludes the committee’s opening comments on Bill 4. Individual Members may have questions or comments as we proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Mr. Minister, would you like to bring witnesses into the House?

Yes, please, Mr. Chair.

Does committee agree?

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

Minister, please introduce your witnesses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. With me today are Ian Rennie, legislative counsel with the Department of Justice, and Natasha Brotherston, the manager of policy and legislation with the Department of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Minister. Committee, we’ll now open the floor to general comments on Bill 4. Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I mentioned in the opening comments, committee did put a lot of work into the report and working with the Minister and his staff, and I just, at this time, want to thank the Minister and his staff for all the hard work that has gone into getting to us to this point of the clause-by-clause review of the bill in Committee of the Whole and all the work that has been going into this. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank all the stakeholders and all those that came and did written and oral presentations, and although we couldn’t get everything into the amendments, we did make a lot of, I won’t call them recommendations, but courses of actions, as we worded them in the report we read into the House earlier today. There were 18 of them, and I think a

lot of them really represented some of the views and concerns of the general public.

Other things to note with the bill in particular was the complexity and the focus to get a plain language document as well as the training for the health information custodians and the health care providers in terms of the awareness campaign and getting something out there to the public. You’ll hear it from some Members today that might want to speak to it, but the concern with regulations, and hopefully, committee can look at those regulations before this comes into effect. Not only us but some of the stakeholders and the general public and the circle of care, in terms of how this information can be provided to other professionals that are not in the health care system but do deal with clients in that circle of care and how do we perceive that.

More or less, it has been a lot work, and some Members have mentioned that it’s not only this government that has done a lot of work. There are governments in the past and other stakeholders that for the past 10 years have really put a lot of hard work and input and effort into getting this bill to where it is today, so I just want to thank everybody for their efforts. I’m glad to see it’s here and, hopefully, get it passed and go into third reading.