Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to provide its report on the review of the 2021 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and commends it to the House.

Introduction

The Standing Committee on Government Operations has reviewed the 2020-2021 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Health Information Act require the IPC to prepare an annual report. The report includes information on the number of files the IPC opens to review complaints. It can also include recommendations. The Speaker tables the report in the Legislative Assembly. Once tabled, the committee reviews the report.

As part of the review, the Information and Privacy Commissioner, Mr. Andrew Fox, appeared before committee on February 10, 2022. The committee appreciated his detailed testimony on the state of access to information and privacy protection in the territory. The committee hopes the IPC's annual reports will include more statistics on the files he reviews and investigates.

Enhanced reporting will help establish trends on why complaints and breaches arise, which public bodies they come from, and whether they are dealt with in a timely manner.

This report presents four recommendations to address the surging number of reviews within the Government's access and privacy regime. The committee is pleased to submit these recommendations to the Government of the Northwest Territories and looks forward to their implementation.

I will now pass it on to the MLA for Kam Lake.