Assembly Vote
18th Assembly, 3rd SessionSitting Day 61 - February 26, 2019
Bill 39
Environmental Rights Act
Bill Sponsor:
Robert C. McLeod
Last Stage Completed:
Law (Assent given) (Aug. 21, 2019)
Topic
Motion Text
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 39, the Environmental Rights Act, be read for the second time. This bill takes steps to modernize and broaden the existing Environmental Rights Act. It updates language use in the current act to make it consistent with more recent legislation. It broadens existing rights under the act to request an investigation, prosecute an offence, and bring an action. The bill provides correspondingly broader protections for employees who engage in those and other processes.
With respect to the right to request an investigation, the bill provides clear timelines and responsibility around the Minister's obligations to report. The bill requires the executive council to prepare a statement of environmental values and requires department and select public bodies to consider that statement in their decision making. It mandates the tabling of a state of the environmental report for the Northwest Territories, sets timelines around the report, and provides for public comment on that report. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.