Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Ombud's sixth recommendation is to remove the restriction to investigate the director of Human Rights Commission under Section 23. The Committee agrees.

Recommendation 3

The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that Section 23 be amended to remove the reference to the Director of Human Rights, and further that the reference to the Conflict of Interest Commissioner be amended to Integrity Commissioner.

Procedural Issues

In the 2019-2020 annual report, the Ombud makes several recommendations to address procedural issues around the Ombud's jurisdiction to investigate complaints.

Currently, the Ombud is allowed to stop investigating a complaint if an alternate remedy or appeal is available. The Ombud recommends broadening this authority so that it applies also before an investigation begins. Making this change would allow the Ombud to refuse to start an investigation if she becomes aware of an adequate alternate remedy or right of appeal.

I'm on page 4 of 7. I'm reading my highlighted portion. Would you like me to continue, Mr. Speaker? Okay.

The Ombud recommends broadening this authority so that it also applies before an investigation begins. Making this change would allow the Ombud to refuse to start an investigation if she becomes aware of an adequate alternate remedy or right of appeal.

The committee had the Law Clerk review this recommendation. Because the Ombud is an office of last resort, a complainant must use all other remedies available before going to the Ombud. As noted earlier in this report, the Ombud has the discretion to investigate if she determines that it would be unreasonable for a complainant to use those remedies.

The committee notes that such a decision is proactive, and it is unlikely that there would be a case where the Ombud would not know about available remedies prior to opening an investigation. This clause is to allow the Ombud to close an investigation if it is found during the investigation that an available remedy wasn't pursued and should have been. The Committee feels that this clause should remain as it is.

In recommendation 8, the Ombud suggests to remove requirement of notification. She notes that the wording of Clause 22(2) may be interpreted to require notification to an authority whenever the Ombud refuses to investigate a complaint. The Ombud noted that this would be time-consuming and generally inappropriate, as many issues are resolved before needing to contact an authority in the first place. The committee agrees, and therefore recommends

Recommendation 4

The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that Section 22(2) be amended to only require notice to an authority of a refusal to investigate in the event that notice had already been provided to that authority that an investigation will take place under Section 24.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I would like it pass it off to MLA Bonnetrouge.