Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to provide its report on Bill 61, An Act to Amend the Ombud Act, and commends it to the House.

Bill 61, An Act to Amend the Ombud Act, (Bill 61) received second reading on November 2, 2022 and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review.

Bill 61 is a private Member's bill, sponsored by the Member for Yellowknife North, to amend the Ombud Act. Many of the proposed changes derive from recommendations in the Ombud's 2019-2020 Annual Report and in committee's review of that annual report. Specifically, Bill 61:

• Allow residents to make complaints about a wider range of public bodies;
• Allows the Ombudsman to investigate complaints going back further in time, to 1999;
• Allows the Ombud to provide more notice of investigations to Indigenous organizations; and
• Clarifies the Ombud's mandate.

This report outlines key events leading up to the introduction of Bill 61, describes committee's engagement with stakeholders, and summarizes stakeholders' positions and committee's decisions on key issues.

I will now turn the report over to the MLA for Kam Lake, MLA Cleveland.