Mr. O'Reilly.

Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion?

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Tabled Document 561-19(2) will be reported as ready for consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill.

Thank you. And thank you, Minister. Committee, we'll move on to the next item.

Committee, we have agreed to consider Bill 39: An Act to Amend the Post-Secondary Education Act. I will ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment to introduce the bill.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm here today to present Bill 39: An Act to Amend the Post-Secondary Education Act.

The Post-Secondary Education Act received assent on August 21st, 2019, and is not yet in force. The act creates a structure for recognizing post-secondary institutions within the Northwest Territories and will enable the transformation of Aurora College into a polytechnic university.

The bill seeks to amend the Post-Secondary Education Act to address gaps or inconsistencies in the act that were identified during the ongoing drafting of the related regulations. As well, an opportunity was identified to amend the section on Indigenous institutions to ensure it is more closely aligned with the 19th Legislative Assembly priority to implement the articles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Bill 39 will first remove an extra barrier for the recognition of Indigenous institutions by removing the requirement that Indigenous institutions first become recognized as post-secondary institutions through a separate process. The recognition process for Indigenous institutions will be determined through engagement with post-secondary and Indigenous government partners and will be set out in the regulations.

Bill 39 will also establish authority for fees and charges to be collected for certain services, such as quality assurance reviews or applications to ensure consistency and clarity within the act.

I wish to thank the Standing Committee for its thoughtful review and collaboration in helping to strengthen this bill through their motions to amend.

This concludes my opening remarks, and I would be pleased to answer any questions that Members may have regarding Bill 39. Thank you.

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

Yes, I would.

Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.

Minister, please introduce your witnesses.

Thank you. With us today we have Andrea Giesbrecht, director of labour, development, and standards with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment; and Ian Rennie, legislative counsel with the Department of Justice. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. I will now turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Development, the committee that reviewed the bill, for any opening comment on Bill 39. Ms. Cleveland.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, Bill 39: An Act to Amend the Post-Secondary Education Act received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on November 25th, 2021, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for review.

On March 24th, 2022, the standing committee held a public hearing with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and completed its clause-by-clause review of the bill.

Committee passed two motions with concurrence from the Minister. Committee has read its report into the record and did not make -- this is -- and did not make recommendations. I thank the committee for their efforts in reviewing this legislation. Individual Members may have additional comments or questions.

I'm going to go back on this one and say we had two motions, and we passed two motions. One of them was not passed but concurred with with the Minister. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Cleveland. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 39.

Is the committee agreed that there are no general comments? Can we proceed to a clause-by-clause review of the bill?

Thank you. Committee, we will defer the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses. I will call the clauses in groups. Does committee agree?

Please turn to page 1 of the bill. Clauses 1 to 5, does the committee agree?

Clauses 6 to 10, does the committee agree?

Clauses 11 to 15, does the committee agree.

Clauses 16 to 20, does the committee agree?