Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Standing Committee on Social Development concluded its review of Bill 8, An Act to Amend the Vital Statistics on October 25, 2016. In addition to soliciting written submissions, the committee had a public hearing at the Legislative Assembly building here in Yellowknife. The committee was pleased to receive a written submission from Dene Nahjo and to hear from members of the public who addressed the committee during the public hearing. Members, I also thank Shene Catholique-Valpy speaking as an individual, Coleen Canney and Teale MacIntosh from the Rainbow Coalition of Yellowknife, and Peter Redvers also speaking as an individual, for sharing their views and experiences at the public hearing. The residents' participation in the legislative process highlights the human face of Bill 5. This bill will have real and meaningful impact on the life of Northerners and their ability to use their true names, honouring their traditional culture and exercising self-determination in their identity. It is the beginning of a new era in the recognition of individuals by the governments that serve them.

Pending discussion in Committee of the Whole and third reading, the committee will follow the implementation of these amendments closely. Individual Members may have additional comments or questions as we proceed with the consideration of this bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister, would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?

I would, yes, please.

Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, would you please introduce your witnesses to the committee.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. With me on my left is Ken Chutskoff, the legislative counsel, and on my left, Debbie DeLancey, deputy minister, Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Minister. Welcome to the witnesses. I will open the floor to general comments on Bill 5. Ms. Green.

You may proceed.

Thank you. As the chair of Social Development mentioned, we had several presentations at the public hearing at this bill, including one from the Rainbow Coalition of Yellowknife, which is a youth organization that supports people who are transgender and queer. I want to read a portion of their presentation because it helps to flesh out the section 42(1). So I'm quoting here: "Transgender identity at its core describes a person who feels like they are a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth by our medical system and/or by their caregivers or parents. There is no requirement of wanting to change one's body, nor is there any other requirement. The only thing that makes a person one gender over another is the feeling they have inside. Some trans people want to make changes to their bodies, and some do not. For any agency to place restrictions on a person's autonomy to control their identity is an invasion of individual human rights. Trans people should have the right to have vital statistics documents that reflect their identity."

I'll just pause here at the end of that quotation to say that the Minister has already acknowledged that he will recognize X as the alternative to male or female, and so I believe it addresses that point.

To continue quoting: "We are concerned that section 42(1) remains too vague and might end up meaning that the registrar requires, for example, a letter of confirmation from a medical professional that the applicant identifies as the sex that they claim to identify as. We believe that it is important that trans people are recognized as the sole experts of their own identities, and that medical professionals are not required to provide confirmation of identity for trans people. Furthermore, we hope that there will be explicit mention of not requiring medical confirmation of gender identity as to ensure that this barrier does not disallow people from changing their sex designation. We suggest requesting that the applicant be provided with a statutory declaration to sign that states that they identify as the sex that they are requesting to be designated on their documentation."

So, Mr. Chair, what all of this means is, as the Minister said, that trans people want self-determination in their identity. They want to be able to designate their own gender without needing an intervention in the form of a statutory declaration by a medical professional, with whom they might not have any relationship and with whom, quite frankly, trans people often have very troubled relationships. So the point here is that, if a person identifies as whatever gender they identify with, this should be taken at their word.

Now, I know that the legislation does not include that level of detail. It will be included in the regulations. But what I am seeking in this forum is a repetition from the Minister that the regulations will address this point of individuals being able to practise self-determination in their identity without the intervention or support of a medical practitioner? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Member's comments. The Member has indicated that this particular area is something that was intended and will be addressed in the regulations. Originally, we are proposing regulations with respect to sex designation which was consistent with the majority of provinces and territories and the Northwest Territories. Specifically, that a statutory declaration that an individual lives full-time in the gender they want to change to, and that this is not the gender currently listed on their birth certificate, a statutory declaration from a doctor, a nurse practitioner, a psychologist or a social worker, that the person lives their desired gender full-time and it is not the gender on their birth certificate, consent of a legal guardian if the person changing their designation is a minor, payment of a fee, and obviously the return of the previous certificate.

During the public hearing, I made a commitment to do some additional research to determine why those are the regulations that we are proposing, and we have done some additional analysis. What we can say is the requirement for declaration of the health care professional is historical; it's something that exists in most provinces and territories. But this is a rapidly changing time. Every jurisdiction is working on what is the rationale for requirements for change of sex designation. Quebec, as an example, has taken out the requirement to have a doctor, physician, social worker, or other practitioner provide the statutory declaration. Instead, Quebec does ask that a declaration of a health care provider is necessary in cases of adults that have already previously changed their sex designation, and this is to preserve the integrity of changes made to the foundational identity document.

So in light of the argument that the Member has presented and the fantastic presentation provided during the public hearing, I have directed the Department of Health and Social Services to remove the requirement for adults to require a doctor, psychologist, social worker, or other practitioner to sign the statutory declaration indicating that this is the gender that the person lives in. So that will not be in the regulations.

I have not made the same direction for minors at this point. For minors, we need to make sure that we explore all the safeguards. I'm not saying that we won't make that direction, but I am certainly asking for more time to make sure that youth and minors are protected and safeguards are there to ensure their safety. We already require their guardian to provide, but I'm asking more time and I'm going to take more time to make sure that all those safeguards are in place. So what you will see in our regulations is no requirement for a doctor unless a person is going back to change their designation a second or third time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for making that commitment to remove the requirement for a statutory declaration from some kind of health professional in order for people to change their designation. I appreciate that the situation with minors is a little trickier because they're vulnerable people just by nature of their age, and I look forward to his further information on that pending his research. So my thanks to him and his officials, and my thanks as well to the Rainbow Coalition, Coleen Canney and Teale MacIntosh who made this original presentation to us on Wednesday night. That's everything.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Testart, do you have any more comments?

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I was going to speak to the amendment that my colleague just spoke of, but it seems like there's no need for that, and I'd like to applaud the Minister for being progressive on this issue. You know, in following suit with Quebec, the North is on the progressive edge of this issue and moving forward, and it's always nice to feel like Canada's catching up with you rather than us catching up with Canada. So I applaud this decision and I think it very much supports what the standing committee heard when this bill was reviewed in public. The other component of this bill is of course directly in line with this government's commitments to the Truth and Reconciliation recommendations and also to our stated political objective of reconciliation by allowing Indigenous peoples to reclaim names that have been lost to them, and I think this bill shows that we are a government that understands the dynamics of reconciliation are actively moving to pursue it and as someone personally who holds rights in very high, individual rights and freedoms and very value, I'm very pleased to support this bill and the amendments to the Act.

I think the community did a very good job at bringing some of the issues to light, and I thank the Minister for being willing to work with committee, willing to work with the people of the Northwest Territories and willing to be progressive for the sake of all Northerners. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I support the self-determination of individuals in terms of their gender identity and I was pleased to hear that the Minister has agreed to be more flexible on that matter when it comes to the actual regulation, so I'm glad to hear that and I understand you'll come back, look for other information, perhaps options, position on how to handle that in the case of minors. So we look forward to getting that information from the Minister. I have one other issue though with regard to this bill. I'm just wondering how the issue of place names on birth certificates are going to be dealt with? We've got a number of official names for our community, some of which may not use Roman Orthography as their official name, so I'm just wondering is that issue dealt with in this bill or is it dealt with somewhere else, Mr. Chair? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this bill will allow us to use traditional fonts, but the place names are legal name. We will be using the official place names or official community names. If those community names include traditional fonts, then certainly those will be on the birth certificate.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I apologize. I wasn't at the hearing, and I'm probably springing this on the Minister and staff, but I'll give an example if that's okay. It's my understanding that the official name does not just exclusively use Roman Orthography, so in our documents that we issue as a government people will be able to have that appear as their place of birth perhaps and those will be accepted then by the federal government into the international system. Is that what I'm hearing? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.

Thank you Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Department of Health and Social Services isn’t the registrar of office names of locations, communities, towns, villages, et cetera. Those names are registered using fonts or not using. If they have fonts, traditional fonts in them, the birth certificate will now be able to include it. If the name as registered does not include those fonts, then we would be required to use the legal name of the community as registered, and if it does include fonts, it won't.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.