I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Madam la Presidente. Committee wishes to consider Bill 68, Tabled Document 694-19(2), Committee Report 50-19(2), Committee Report 47-19(2). Mahsi, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. We will take a recess.

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Committee, we've agreed to consider Bill 68, An Act to Amend the Child Day Care Act. I will ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment to introduce the bill. Minister

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here today to present Bill 68, An Act to Amend the Child Day Care Act.

The Child Day Care Act defines how children should be cared for in facilities outside of their homes in the NWT. The Act and its corresponding regulations set minimum standards for the quality, care, instruction, and supervision of children.

In December 2021, the GNWT signed the Canada-NWT Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, in which the federal government pledged to provide additional funding to reduce barriers and transform the early learning and child care system in the NWT. The agreement and action plan focused on making child care more affordable for families, developing a qualified early childhood workforce, and establishing a strong basis for accountability.

Amendments to the Child Day Care Act are required to fully implement this agreement and meet the enhanced accountability and reporting measures required by Canada.

Bill 68 proposes a limited set of amendments to the Act that will

• Provide the authority to establish a certification process and wage grid for early childhood educators in the NWT;.
• Increase inclusion and demographic reporting measures;.
• Establish cost control measures, including maximum fees charged to families;.
• Introduce enhanced protection for the rights of families, including a complaints process; and
• Update and clarify language in the act.

I wish to thank the Standing Committee on Social Development for their review and collaboration on this important initiative, including the six motions to amend and agreed to during the clause-by-clause review. This concludes my opening remarks. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Would you like to bring witnesses?

Yes.

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

Minister, please introduce your witnesses.

Thank you. I have John MacDonald, deputy minister of education, culture and employment. And Christina Duffy, director of legislation division with the Department of Justice.

Welcome. I will now turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Development, the committee that reviewed the bill, for any opening comments to Bill 68. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, Bill 68, An Act to Amend the Child Day Care Act, received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on November 3rd, 2022, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for review.

Bill 68 does not address the existing challenges of the Northwest Territories' early learning and child care sector or fix the damaged relationship between the sector and government. It does, however, put in place necessary basic rules, such as a certification process for educators, and allows the Northwest Territories to catch up with the other jurisdictions in this sector.

In the committee's review period, committee received nine written submissions and six verbal presentations. This enabled committee to have a thorough understanding of how Bill 68 affects child care operators and northern families. As a result, the committee was pleased to work with the department on several amendments to strengthen this bill for those it impacts.

The clause-by-clause review of Bill 68 was held on March 1st, 2023. The committee proposed seven motions. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment concurred with six of the seven proposed motions.

I would like to thank the committee for its work on the review of the bill 68. Individual Members may have additional comments or questions. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 68. Does committee agree that there are no general comments on Bill 68?

Can we proceed to a clause-by-clause review of the bill?

Committee, we will defer the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses. Please turn to page 1 of the bill.

Clause 1, does committee agree?

Clause 13, does committee agree? Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion? Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, this is, we feel on the committee, a really important change that needs to be made. Given the small nature of our -- sorry, the nature of our small towns, I think that it's really quite disingenuous to think that conversation is not going to happen around any sort of complaint or issue that is brought forward. And what not having the ability to speak about the complainant does to the day care provider or the day home provider is that it doesn't -- it hampers them from being allowed to go and get advice from their peer group. It doesn't allow them to properly be able to defend themselves against any sort of complaint. I think it gives an avenue then should they do inadvertently disclose someone's name, it gives another avenue for retaliation, especially in a situation where the complaint is actually vexatious and not of an actual nature that's maybe grounded in reality. So we felt that by hampering or by keeping people restricted -- and sorry, I'm having a hard time articulating myself here today after this week. But that it would add detriment to the providers and not fair. We also wanted them to have the ability to be unhampered should they need to engage legal counsel or any sort of adjudication platform that may come out of a remediation type situation. And it's our understanding from our legal counsel that this does prohibit defendants, or whatever we want to call them, from engaging and telling their legal counsel who exactly is the complainant. So I think rather than set up a situation where people are going to be in violation of the Act because people talk, and it's a small town, I think it's better if we were to make this amendment so that there is some avenue for flexibility in how this is all dealt with. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. To the motion? Member for -- or Minister of ECE.