Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Your Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures is pleased to provide its report on the review of the Rules of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly.

Introduction

The Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures (committee) is pleased to report on its review of the Rules of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories.

The current Rules of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly (the Rules) were adopted December 7, 2021. At that time the rules were revised and reorganized into chapters to allow for revisions without having to repeal and replace the rules. If carried by this Assembly, the recommendations of this report will be the first rules changes under this new structure.

In 2022 Speaker Frederick Blake twice wrote to committee regarding the Rules; these letters are available in Appendix A.

In January 2022, the Speaker asked committee to consider various matters including: Regular Member participation on Standing and Special Committees; Membership on the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight; dissenting opinions in committee Reports; care of infants in the Chamber; the Rule of Anticipation; loss of quorum; petitions; and committee reporting on the review of bills.

In September of 2022, Speaker Frederick Blake wrote the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures (the committee) regarding changes to the release of reports from statutory officers, like the Ombud and Languages Commissioner. In addition, committee considered changes identified by Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), the committee, and Office of the Clerk staff.

The Legislative Assembly Officers Standardization Act received Assent on October 27, 2020. Under this Act, all statutory officers' annual reports are due to the Speaker on July 1st each year. However, under the current rules, these reports are not released publicly until the Speaker tables them in the Assembly. This means these reports aren't normally released until October, more than three months after they are received.

At a meeting of the Board of Management in June 2022, an MLA requested to have statutory officers' reports tabled in the May/June sitting. The MLA believed that the earlier tabling and release of the reports would facilitate quicker review by Committees. The Speaker asked committee to determine the best approach to make statutory officers' annual reports available to the public and standing committees earlier. I will now pass this on to the Member for Frame Lake. Thank you.