Thank you, committee. That concludes our consideration of the report. We have agreed to next consider Bill 31, Northwest Territories 911 Act. I will ask the Minister responsible for the bill to introduce it. Minister Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to introduce Bill 31, Northwest Territories 911 Act. The purpose of the Northwest Territories 911 Act is to create a Northwest Territories 911 service for the reporting of emergencies through a public safety answering point or call centre.

Bill 31 requires communities, communications providers, and emergency service providers to participate in the establishment and operation of the 911 system, which is necessary for its effective operation throughout the Northwest Territories.

Bill 31 authorizes development and administration of policies, standards, and guidelines that are necessary to operationalize the system, deter inappropriate use of the 911 system, and authorize the call centre to perform additional work on behalf of community governments, such as direct dispatch for their emergency first responders.
A significant aspect of Bill 31 is the setting of a cost-recovery fee. As Members of this House are aware, the goal of the 911 system is to ensure it operates on a full cost-recovery basis. The fee will apply to all communication devices used in the Northwest Territories which connect to 911, including landlines, wireless devices, and Voice Over Internet Protocol connections.

Much work is under way to implement 911 throughout the Northwest Territories, including preparations for a 911 call centre; hiring and training of qualified staff; working with community governments to improve civic addressing; creating an inventory of available emergency services; implementing a public awareness campaign; system testing; and developing an effective means to evaluate our progress.

Municipal and Community Affairs has worked with the legislation division of the Department of Justice on Bill 31 and will continue working with them on the drafting of the regulations required to set the cost recovery fee. Municipal and Community Affairs intends to bring the act and regulations into force prior to the go-live date for the 911 system. The projected go-live date remains June 2019.

That concludes my opening remarks, and I would be pleased to answer any questions that Members may have regarding Bill 31. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. At this point, we are going to call a brief recess so we can distribute the bill to Members, so we will reconvene in about five minutes. Thank you.

---SHORT RECESS

I will call committee back to order. I will now turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations, the committee that considered the bill, for opening comments. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am just trying to find my paperwork here. The Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to report on its review of Bill 31, Northwest Territories 911 Act.

The committee read their substantive report into the House on February 26, 2019, giving details on our consultation on Bill 31. To commence its review of Bill 31, the Standing Committee on Government Operations sent letters inviting input from an extensive list of stakeholders, including all municipal and Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories and a number of non-governmental organizations.

The committee held four public hearings on Bill 31 in Fort Smith, Inuvik, Fort McPherson, and Yellowknife. As well, the committee received two written submissions on the bill, from the Hamlet of Tulita and the City of Yellowknife. On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank the communities who welcomed us on our travels and everyone who provided input on Bill 31.

The clause-by-clause review was held on February 21, 2019. At this meeting, the committee moved three separate motions to amend Bill 31. All three were carried, with concurrence from the Minister. At this time, I would like to recognize that the committee found the Minister and the department to be strong partners in the development of this legislation and sincerely appreciates that we were able to find common ground and concurrence with the motions to improve the bill by way of amendment. It is not lost on us. Sometimes, those differences of opinion can impact legislation, but, in this case, we were able to find a common vision for 911 services in the Northwest Territories and to work collaboratively to achieve it, and I think it is a strong example of how to draft good legislation in this Assembly.

With that, Mr. Chair, individual Members may have additional comments, but I have nothing further. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister, do you have witnesses you wish to bring into the Chamber?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I do.

Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, please introduce your witnesses for the record.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left, I have Cherie Jarock, who is the legislative council for the Department of Justice. On my immediate right, Mr. Ashley Geraghty, the 911 program manager for MACA, and, on my far right, Ms. Eleanor Young, my deputy minister for Municipal and Community Affairs. Thank you.

Thank you. Welcome to the witnesses. Committee, I will open the floor to general comments on Bill 31. Seeing none, we will proceed to a clause-by-clause review. We will defer the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses. I will call out each clause, and, if committee agrees, please respond accordingly. Please turn to page 1 of the bill.

---Clauses 1 through 14 inclusive, approved

Committee, those are all of the clauses. I will now call the bill number and title. Bill 31, Northwest Territories 911 Act.

Thank you, committee. Does committee agree that this concludes our consideration of Bill 31?

To the bill as a whole, does committee agree that Bill 31 is now ready for third reading?

Thank you, committee. Bill 31 is now ready for third reading. This concludes our consideration of the bill. I will go to Minister Moses for some closing comments.

Just really quickly, Mr. Chair. I want to thank the previous Ministers who worked on this bill. Obviously, I thank my staff, who did the hard work, went out, and did the consultation. I would like to thank the Chair for the comments that were made before we got into the proceedings of the bill and the work we have done collectively when we went through the clause-by-clause review. One thing that was important in the report was the comments from the municipal leaders and make sure that we take that into consideration. I just wanted to thank everybody involved. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Thank you to the witnesses for appearing before us. You got a free ride today. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber. Mr. Testart.

I move that the Chair rise and report progress. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. There is a motion to report progress. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

I will rise and report progress. First, I have to thank everyone who has been working behind the scenes. I know we have had some late nights this week. We really appreciate all the clerks, all the technicians, all the interpreters, and all the Pages who have been sticking it out with us over this last little while. Thank you to everybody.

Member for Hay River North, may I have the report?

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Tabled Document 322-18(3), Main Estimates 2019-2020; Bill 31, Northwest Territories 911 Act; and Committee Report 13-18(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of Bill 31: Northwest Territories 911 Act, and would like to report progress with four motions carried; that Committee Report 13-18(3) is concluded; that Bill 31 is ready for third reading; that consideration of Tabled Document 322-18(3) is concluded and that the House concur with those estimates; and that an appropriation bill to be based thereon be introduced without delay. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with.