Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here today to present Bill 20, An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act. I wish to thank the Standing Committee on Social Development for its thoughtful review and collaboration on this bill. Thanks to the valuable insight of the committee and its staff, in cooperation with departmental representatives, the bill as amended achieves a desired balance between increased public transparency and the operational requirements of the Employment Standards Office.

This bill seeks to amend the Employment Standards Act to include two provisions that will provide protection to NWT workers and flexibility to employers during the COVID-19 pandemic and any future emergency. The first provision, emergency leave, provides job protection to NWT workers by allowing workers to access unpaid leave when they are unable to perform their duties because of an emergency, such as the ongoing public health emergency. This provision will not only encourage workers to comply with public health best practices but will also allow the NWT to meet its commitments to the Government of Canada under the Safe Restart Agreement and allow NWT workers to access the recovery benefits under the Government of Canada's COVID-19 Response Measures Act.

The second provision will provide flexibility to NWT employers by including an exception to the requirement to provide notice of group termination, in line with the notice periods set out in the act, when an unforeseeable event or circumstance beyond an employer's control occurs that prevents the employer from respecting the notice period in the act. Employers will still be required to provide notice of group termination to the employment standards officer and any applicable union as soon as possible, and employees will retain their entitlements to individual termination notice or pay in lieu of notice.

I am pleased to bring forward these amendments that will both strengthen worker protection and provide flexibility for employers and which are consistent with actions taken by other jurisdictions in response to the pandemic. This concludes my opening remarks, and I would be pleased to answer any questions that Members may have regarding Bill 20. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. I will now turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Development, the committee that considered the bill, for opening comments. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Having just introduced Committee Report 12-19(2) a short time ago, I have no additional comments on Bill 20 at this time. Again, I wish to thank committee, the stakeholders that provided valuable feedback as well as all Regular Members who participated in the committee's review of this bill. Individual Members may have additional comments or questions at this time for the Minister. Thank you.

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

Yes, I would.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. Today, we have Ms. Haley Mathisen, manager, employment standards, on your left, and Ms. Laura Jeffrey, legislative counsel with the Department of Justice, on the right. Thank you.

Thank you, and welcome. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 20. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I'm still concerned about the group termination notice provisions in the bill, but I would like to ask the Minister whether there were any public consultations in preparing the bill. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you. No.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks. Can the Minister provide an explanation as to why there was no public consultation in preparing the bill? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you. In response to the pandemic, the department decided to implement measures that exist in virtually all other jurisdictions to assist residents and businesses. It wasn't something that required extensive public consultation at the time because these measures are fairly clear-cut across Canada, and time was of the essence, as well, despite the fact that I know that this bill seems to be coming in late, considering the situation. Thank you.

Thank you. Member.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I was going to make the same comment, that the pandemic has been going on for a year, and the bill arrived maybe a month or two ago. It looks to me like there would have been an opportunity for public consultation, certainly with employers and employees, in some ways. I want to turn, though, to the group termination notice provisions. It looks like they have been in place in the current legislation since 2008. I am just wondering why they are being changed now. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. During the pandemic, we saw a lot of businesses disrupted. We saw the mines halt operations with really no notice. We saw international flights cancelled. Tourists stopped coming into the territory. We realized there were employers who were in situations, who, due to those monumental unforeseen situations, would find themselves in violation of the act at no fault of their own. We didn't want a situation where there is a contractor up at the mines, and they have 50 employees, and that's their only contract, and the mine shuts down one day and says, "You send everyone home. We're done. We're not working." All of a sudden, that company would be in violation of this act if they had to lay everyone off because of that situation. That doesn't necessarily seem fair. We wanted to ensure that, in these very rare, unexpected, and exceptional circumstances, there was an opportunity for some fair dealing with those companies. Thank you.

Thank you. Member.

Thanks, Madam Chair. How often do we track the number of group termination notices that are given under Section 41 of the act? Do we track that over time? Has it ever been really used before? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you. I would like to hand this to Ms. Mathisen. Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Mathisen.