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

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

I have limited ability to be able to move money within the department as there are financial admin act rules that must be followed.

Katrina Nokleby

Katrina Nokleby Great Slave

Will the Minister commit to sitting down with me and going through the plans that she has for next year for the ITH so that I can be sure that everything that I think needs to be taken care of does?

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Absolutely.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Madame la Presidente. My question is for the Minister of Justice. We have one of the best access to information and protection of privacy laws in the world, but it's still not implemented. Can the Minister provide an update on the status of implementation of the new legislation, including reduction of fees, identification of classes of records that do not require an ATIPP application, and other reductions in costs for applicants? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Minister of Justice.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The ATIPP Act, yes, we were hoping that implementation would be speedier, but there have been significant staffing challenges. We are hoping to bring the act into force in spring of 2021. Recently, we did bring Section 61.1 into force to allow for the access and privacy into force to allow for the access and privacy staff to act as ATIPP coordinators for other public bodies. The staff within the Department of Justice are currently examining the fees, and we hope to have the regulations in place to have those reductions that the Member was speaking of by December.

We have not yet had a chance to turn our minds to the classes of records that could be exempt. I sat with the Member in committee room A for endless hours discussing the ATIPP Act, and I think this is a valuable part of it. If we have classes of records that do not need to go through ATIPP, that frees up a lot of people's time. Saying that, I will note that the requests, the number of requests, have remained relatively steady, but it is the complexity of requests that has increased. That alone, this change alone, I do not think is going to alleviate all of the problems. However, I do see it being a significant change and look forward to making it. Thank you.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

I want to thank the Minister for that early Christmas present. A major change that was introduced in the amendments was extending the legislation to include records held by municipalities. In the spring of this year, the then Minister of Justice told me that a working group was formed with representatives of communities to ensure that they were going to be part of the process to develop those regulations. Can the Minister tell us what is going on now in terms of the application of ATIPP to community governments, and when will this actually happen?

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

The working group was formed. There was Justice, MACA, LGANT, and the NWTAC. They met in April, but like many other things, the next meeting was delayed. We hope to have that meeting prior to Christmas. That is when the working group will be looking at what resources are required, what is a realistic timeline to make this happen. Then, we can have a plan going forward. I don't want to put this onto the municipalities when they are not ready. It would be a disaster. It wouldn't be good for anyone.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Yes. As a former city councillor here, we do not want to implement this on top of municipalities without ensuring that they actually have adequate resources. One of the other major elements of this review of ATIPP was looking at ways to improve training and development of resource materials for all the different departments. Can the Minister provide a timeline for when this training is going to be completed and new support materials developed?

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

The department is working on the materials. I do not have a timeline for training, but the departments that need training are receiving training upon request. Just recently, departmental staff trained with the Department of Infrastructure on how to process these requests. It's an ongoing process.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake. Final supplementary.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Merci, Madame la Presidente. Yes. One of the hallmarks of developing this new legislation was the strong consultation and input with stakeholders and even Members on this side of the House. It was, I think, a good way of bringing forward legislation, and the Minister even spoke about that himself. Can the Minister, though, tell me when we can expect to see draft regulations to finally realize the potential of this legislation, and will he commit to share those regulations with standing committee for their review and comment? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

As I stated, we expect spring 2021 for the act to be brought in. We will need the regulations by then. As the Member knows, the Department of Justice is creating a policy for the prepublication of regulations, and these are the exact types of regulations that I imagine would be shared and open for input. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Question 450-19(2): Illicit Drug Use
Oral Questions

November 2nd, 2020

Page 1577

Steve Norn

Steve Norn Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Marsi cho, Madam Speaker. Just going back to my Member's statement on illicit drugs, I wanted to specifically target those hard drugs, such as crack cocaine, cocaine, and fentanyl. I actually looked up some weight measurements for what a pinch of salt is. When you pick a pinch of salt and you are cooking with it, there are about 60 milligrams there. That is how heavy that is. To put things in perspective, I looked up the lethal dose for fentanyl, and that is 2 to 3 milligrams. That is not very much. These are the kinds of drugs that are killing our people. There is an opioid crisis going on in western Canada now, and we need to really start addressing this issue. Going back to my questions, my first question to the Minister of Justice, Madam Speaker, is: can the Minister share with us if his department is aware of any increase in the amount of drug-related crimes in the NWT since COVID-19 began compared to pre-COVID times? Thank you.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister of Justice.

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The RCMP monitor the calls they get and what type of calls they get. Unfortunately, I do not have the data right now to compare the pandemic times to the pre-pandemic time, but when I have that data, I am as interested as the Member to see what it says. Anecdotally, we have all heard that there has been an increase in illicit drug use across Canada. I think, last time I checked, there was just over $100 million in surpayments that made its way into the territory. Just that amount of money, I would assume that there would be an uptick in all sorts of different sales, including illicit drugs. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Steve Norn

Steve Norn Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

In my notes here, I have "Madam Speaker" underlined quite clearly so I don't make that mistake. Thank you to the Minister for that response. Like I said, we have got to get ahead of this. I agree with surpayments. I think his department, as well, needs to look at ways to make sure that the money gets to where it's needed because there are a lot of these payments that are meant for food, rent, and make sure we get those out to those areas and not get out to the bootleggers and out to these other drug dealers. That is what we want to see. My second question, Madam Speaker, is: can the Minister tell us what sort of antidrug initiatives are currently in place by the Department of Justice within the NWT?

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

The antidrug initiatives are across government. It's not just the Department of Justice, of course. There are things with the department of education, things that are taught in school. Health has proactive antidrug campaigns. In terms of the Department of Justice, we're part of the opioid task force along with the RCMP. We work closely to try to avoid, and we have been lucky so far, the type of opioid crisis that we have seen in the South. We are also partners in the GNWT's alcohol strategy. We have seen a lot of drug seizures over the last number of months. Every time you turn on the news, it seems like there is a significant drug seizure.

I just want to point out that we see those, and yet, they still keep coming. It's an enormous market. If we do not stop people from buying, they are just going to keep coming, no matter how many seizures you have. It's a demand issue. The RCMP are also working to work more within the community, so training and having better collaboration with communities. If they can become part of the community, you get that inside intelligence, and you are not just the RCMP officer; you are part of the community. There is also, of course, the gun and gangs strategy that is being funded by the federal government, and that is an ongoing program that, unfortunately, is relevant now, with organized crime in the territory.

Steve Norn

Steve Norn Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you again for that response. It's good to hear there are some initiatives in place. There are so many of our people with addictions who are susceptible, and we still have to keep fighting for them. My other question is: can the Minister explain whether or not there have been any changes regarding antidrug procedures, protocols, or initiatives within the NWT since the COVID-19 pandemic has begun?

R.J. Simpson

R.J. Simpson Hay River North

Changes, not really changes over the past six months. However, as I mentioned, the gun and gangs strategy is under development, and I think that lessons learned during the pandemic will inform that.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Caitlin Cleveland

Caitlin Cleveland Kam Lake

Thank you, Madam Speaker. If we are to restore momentum in our efforts to bring about gender equality in Canada, social, economic, and recovery efforts must take a feminist approach and, more so in the North, an Indigenous feminist approach. How does the Premier intend to ensure that economic and social recovery takes an Indigenous feminist approach in the Northwest Territories, and what will that look like in terms of changes on the ground? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Madam Speaker. When I hear that economic recovery has to take a feminist approach and it has to take an Indigenous feminist approach, as well, basically, that is saying to me that one size doesn't fit all. There is lots of research that says that once size doesn't fit all when we talk about many things in life. What does that look like? I think that the Department of Finance was one of the first ones to come out of the gate and say that they were starting to do a gender-based analysis of all of their work, and I think that that should go across all departments. Like I said, one size does not fit all, and we do need to look, whenever we do our programs, at how that impacts on the most marginalized of our societies. Thank you, Madam Speaker.