Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Your Special Committee to Increase the Representation of Women in the Legislative Assembly is pleased to provide its Final Report on Increasing the Representation of Women in the Legislative Assembly and commends it to this House.
INTRODUCTION
The Special Committee to Increase the Representation of Women in the Legislative Assembly ("committee") was tasked to gather information and public input into options on how to support the goal of increasing women's representation in the Legislative Assembly to 20 percent by 2023 and 30 percent by 2027. The committee is pleased to present this final report, which was developed in accordance with committee's mandate as determined by the terms of reference. This report includes consideration of the discussion paper "Temporary Special Measures to Increase the Representation of Women in the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly" ("discussion paper") presented by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in May 2018.
Committee heard overwhelming support for encouraging more women to run for elected seats and increasing the number of women in the legislature. Committee heard the need for more public discussion on how to reach these goals.
During public hearings and stakeholder meetings, committee discussed guaranteed seats, a solution proposed to increase women's representation. Feedback on the discussion paper included discussion of alternative and complementary measures that participants suggested may be considered or may work well in their communities and the Northwest Territories.
In this report, we respond to the discussion paper and briefly discuss gender quotas and guaranteed seats in legislatures in other countries. We report views residents shared with us, including suggestions for other legislative changes; changes to any current rules of the Legislative Assembly; current and related legislation; and policies of the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Legislative Assembly.
The committee makes three recommendations intended to improve conditions for women's engagement in territorial politics.
Finally, the committee urges the Members of the 19th Assembly to continue the work that has begun under this special committee and continue efforts to increase gender equity in the Legislative Assembly.
The committee members thank the communities for their warm welcome and participants for their time and effort in attending the meetings and openly sharing their opinions. Committee is appreciative of all the submissions received, as they informed the committee's discussions and recommendations.
Background
The committee began work on November 28, 2018, and consulted with the public in 10 community hearings throughout the Northwest Territories, as listed in Appendix A of this report. Approximately 120 individuals attended the public meetings, 90 percent being women. Most public hearings were televised and remain accessible on Facebook and Twitter, except where technical challenges prevented the live recording. The committee received 11 written submissions, as listed in Appendix B, and additional requests for meetings with interest groups who had also been invited to provide written submission.
Tasked with identifying barriers that prevent women from running, and recommending incentives that mitigate these barriers, the committee tabled an interim report on March 12, 2019. In accordance with the overall goal of helping increase the representation of women in the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, the Committee made seven recommendations which were adopted unanimously by the Members of this House. The interim report is included as Appendix C and is available on the committee's web page.
Four of seven recommendations proposed measures to support work-life balance for parents, introducing childcare-friendly provisions to the Legislative Assembly, and requiring a review of the family-friendliness of this building. The remaining three recommendations provide solutions to removing barriers preventing women from participating successfully in politics: making information on consensus government more accessible; information about the specifics of an MLA's role; and increasing campaign training for women in the NWT.
Mr. Speaker, now turn the reading of this report over to the honourable Member from Thebacha.