This is page numbers 1563 - 1592 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was work.

Topics

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? Motion carried.

---Carried

Thank you, committee. Do you agree that you have concluded consideration of Committee Report 4-19(2), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2018-2019 Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission Annual Report?

Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, committee. We have concluded consideration of Committee Report 4-19(2), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2018-2019 Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission Annual Report. Committee, we have agreed to consider Committee Report 5-19(2), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2018-2019 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. I will go to the chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations for any opening comments. Member for Thebacha.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Chair, our report was read into the record, so I do not have any substantive comments to add. I would like to thank the committee for their work on the report. Individual Members may have comments on the report and its recommendations. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Ms. Martselos. I will now open the floor to general comments on Committee Report 5-19(2), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2018-2019 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. Seeing no comments, Ms. Martselos.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide an update on the work being done to bring into force the amended sections of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, including a schedule indicating when the changes will take effect. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Ms. Martselos. The motion is in order. To the motion.

Some Hon. Members

Question.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? Motion carried.

---Carried

Ms. Martselos.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories investigate and explore options for centralizing the management and administration of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories departments; and further, the standing committee recommends that government share the results of this review for committee input. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Ms. Martselos. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to bring some context to these motions as, both, our Information and Privacy Commissioner put a lot of work into these. I would like to thank her for many years of service. Our new Information and Privacy Commissioner has a big task, as well as the Department of Justice, in bringing this act online. I really do believe we have one of the best ATIPP acts in the country. However, it is not presently in force, and there is a lot of work to do. What this motion speaks to specifically is, typically, ATIPP coordinators have been located individually in all departments. I, myself, have done some of that ATIPP work, and it often gets put on the side of your desk. It really is work that requires expertise and specialization. It's fundamental to a government to make sure we respond to information requests. It's fundamental we make sure that we are an open and transparent government. Therefore, this recommendation is to centralize all of those positions into one shop within the government, properly fund them, and make sure they can implement our information and privacy legislation and truly have that expertise so that we can be a leader in this area. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am happy to support this motion.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Johnson. To the motion. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I, too, support this motion. I had cause to use the access to information process in the last Assembly as an MLA because Ministers would not share documents sometimes, believe it or not. There was some interesting material that was sometimes exempted or redacted and differences in the way that different departments approached this. I think having people consistently work together from different departments to offer better consistency and responses to applicants is a good idea, and I support this. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. To the motion.

Some Hon. Members

Question.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? Motion carried.

---Carried

Ms. Martselos.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories update committee on work to develop a standard approach to including "access by design" principles into the design of communications, programs, policies, and legislation; and further, the committee requests details on how the Government of the Northwest Territories will formalize and share this standard approach with the Government of the Northwest Territories staff. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Ms. Martselos. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Chair. What we are recommending here is the wording "access by design" because that is the wording the GNWT uses. This is really about open and transparent government. It's about proactive disclosure. I would like to thank my colleague from Frame Lake. He asked a number of questions of the Minister of Justice today about proactive disclosure. This recommendation has long come from the Information and Privacy Commissioner, largely with a lens that this ultimately saves us time and resources, saves our media headache; it saves people in departments hassles. I don't know how often I send emails to Ministers simply to find information, to find policies, to find things that should already be proactively disclosed. There is an abundance of emails and information requests flying around government for information that should be publicly available.

The federal government has done a lot of great work on their document management system. Ours is known as DIIMS. Many sections of that are simply open to the public already. I think there is no reason we can't put our working documents, we can't put our policies, we can't put our templates out there. Additionally, this goes to really how we publish information. Quite often, as this government, we release information, and there is not the underlying data set. I all the time request Excel spreadsheets, and it's as if it's an impossible ask to get what actually went into a graphic. We have a long way to go to be an open and transparent government. This motion is really speaking to that. Once again, I encourage this Cabinet to be a leader in this area. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Johnson. To the motion.

Some Hon. Members

Question.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? All those abstaining? Motion carried.

---Carried

Ms. Martselos.

Frieda Martselos

Frieda Martselos Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories develop and implement a plan for ending the use of fax machines in the health and social services sector. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Rocky Simpson

Thank you, Ms. Martselos. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife North.