Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to thank Members of the Standing Committee on Government Operations for their review of Bill 61 and the MLA for Yellowknife North for bringing the bill forward and his efforts. Given existing resources and focus on current legislative priorities for the 19th Legislative Assembly, the Department of Justice, which jointly administers the act with the Legislative Assembly, has not been able to undertake a policy analysis, the policy analysis that is necessary to fully understand the impacts of some of the proposed amendments in Bill 61, but had provided initial feedback to standing committee during the course of their review. The Department of Justice appreciates that some of the initial feedback that was provided to the bill was incorporated into a revised bill. Cabinet agrees that several of the provisions will improve the overall administration and readability of the Ombud Act. However, the impacts of some of the provisions proposed in the bill are not clear.
For example, Bill 61 will allow the ombud to investigate complaints about a wider range of public bodies by expanding the definition of "authority" and replacing the current schedule that lists these authorities. The bill will also expand the list of statutory officers that the ombud shall not investigate without the officers' agreement to include a commission and an adjudication panel.
The Department of Justice has not had the opportunity to undertake a detailed analysis of these amendments in order to completely understand the impacts they may have on the ombud's investigation authority. The bill will also change the temporal jurisdiction of the ombud from 2016 to 1999, allowing the ombud to investigate complaints into matters that have arisen since April 1, 1999.
When Bill 20, Ombudsperson Act, was initially drafted, the temporal jurisdiction of the ombud did not extend before the commencement of the Act, which was consistent with similar legislation in other jurisdictions at the time. The temporal jurisdiction in Bill 20 was amended in response to feedback from the committee so that it was extended towards the beginning of the 18th Legislative Assembly, specifically January 1, 2016. Limitations on temporal jurisdiction are important for several reasons and the significant expansion of this jurisdiction in Bill 61 raises concerns in regard to the potential impact on resources resulting from this amendment.
The Government of the Northwest Territories continues to take the position that amending the act would have been most appropriate during the 20th Legislative Assembly given that the act is still relatively new. As the ombud continues to implement the act, it is expected that further insights will be gained as to what is working well and where improvements can be made.
Madam Chair, there is nothing egregious in this bill, but given that the department has not had an opportunity to do its due diligence, Cabinet will abstain from voting on the bill as a whole. But that said, I wish the Member good luck and I thank him for his efforts on this. Thank you.