EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Ms. Elaine Keenan Bengts was reappointed on February 24, 2015, for a 5-year term of office as Nunavut’s Information and Privacy Commissioner.
This is her fourth term as Information and Privacy Commissioner of Nunavut.
The Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories enacted the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act prior to division.
The changes that have been made to the regulations since April 1, 1999, have been largely housekeeping in nature.
This means that the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act now applies to Local Housing Organizations.
This is an issue that received considerable attention during the standing committee’s 2014 televised hearing.
The standing committee applauds the Government of Nunavut for having acted in a timely manner to address this issue.
Under section 68 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Information and Privacy Commissioner is required to prepare and submit an annual report to the Legislative Assembly on her office’s activities. the standing committee’s televised hearings on the annual reports of independent officers of the Legislative Assembly provide an opportunity for the issues raised in each report to be discussed in a public forum.
Government accountability is fostered through the requirement in the Rules of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut that the government table a comprehensive response to the Standing Committee’s report and recommendations within 120 days of its presentation to the House.
The government’s most recent annual report on the administration of the Act was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on November 4, 2014.
The Information and Privacy Commissioner’s 2014 appearance before the standing committee took place on September 18, 2014, on the occasion of its televised hearing on her 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 annual reports to the Legislative Assembly.
Officials from the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs subsequently appeared before the standing committee.
The standing committee’s report on this hearing was subsequently presented to the Legislative Assembly on October 28, 2014.
The Government of Nunavut’s response to the Standing Committee’s report was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on February 26, 2015.
The Information and Privacy Commissioner’s 2014-2015 annual report was backdoor tabled under the provisions of Rule 44(2) of the Rules of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut on July 7, 2015.
The September 28-29, 2015, appearances of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and Government of Nunavut officials before the standing committee took place in the Chamber of the Legislative Assembly.
Issue: Disclosure of Government of Nunavut Contracting, Procurement and  Leasing Activities
In her 2014-2015 annual report to the Legislative Assembly, the Information and Privacy Commissioner noted that:
“In my last annual report, I commented on the issue of proactive disclosure of information with respect to government contracts.
I commented in particular about the difficulty I had in finding information about contracts awarded … It appears that there is far more information on line than I first thought, if you know where to look for it.
I would encourage all public bodies to continue to improve their proactive disclosure of as much information as possible and to make finding that information intuitive and easy.
Many Canadian jurisdictions are making progress in this, making records available in electronic form at a ‘one stop shop’ so that it can be found and downloaded with the least amount of effort on the part of the public.”
In its October 29, 2010, report on the review of the 2009-2010 annual report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, the standing committee reiterated a recommendation that the Government of Nunavut table annual reports in the Legislative Assembly on the contracting, procurement and leasing activities for all of its Crown agencies and territorial corporations.
This recommendation was reiterated in its October 28, 2014, report on the review of the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 annual reports of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
In its formal response to the standing committee’s October 28, 2014, report, the Government of Nunavut indicated that:
The standing committee notes that this issue has been addressed in recent Ministerial Letters of Expectation to the Chairs of the boards of directors of Crown agencies and territorial corporations.
As of October 21, 2015, the most recent annual reports to have been tabled in the Legislative Assembly on the contracting, procurement and leasing activities of Crown agencies and territorial corporations were as follows:
The standing committee recommends that the responsible Ministers of the Government of Nunavut table in the Legislative Assembly, in a timely manner, annual reports on the contracting, procurement and leasing activities for all of the government’s Crown agencies and territorial corporations, which are the:
The standing committee further recommends that the Government of Nunavut, as part of its ongoing review of procurement, contracting and leasing practices, work to refine its public reporting practices to more clearly differentiate between the approved “maximum values” of contracts and the actual expenditures undertaken pursuant to such contracts.
The standing committee further recommends that the Government of Nunavut, as part of its ongoing review of procurement, contracting and leasing practices, work to refine its public reporting practices to more clearly account for contract awards made under standing offer agreements.
The standing committee further recommends that the Government of Nunavut, in its response to this report, clarify what specific actions are undertaken by the Financial Management Board, the Executive Council and the Public Agencies Council in circumstances where Crown agencies and/or territorial corporations do not fulfill, in a timely manner, their tabling requirements in respect to procurement, contracting and leasing activities.
“I am aware that the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Office in the  Department of the Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs is working, in particular, with the City of Iqaluit on these issues.
In its formal response to the standing committee’s October 28, 2014, report, the Government of Nunavut indicated that it:
“… is committed to moving forward with the implementation of access and privacy within the Nunavut municipalities.”
It should be noted that the current business plan of the Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs indicates that one of its priorities for the 2015-2016 fiscal year is to:
“… explore options regarding municipal access to information and protection of privacy legislation.”
It should also be noted that the September 29, 2015, opening statement of the Government of Nunavut’s witnesses to the standing committee indicated that:
“… there is a huge discrepancy between the capacities of the larger communities versus the smaller communities and that is being considered as we move forward with consultations.”
Extensive discussion on these issues took place during the September 28-29, 2015, appearances of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and witnesses from the Government of Nunavut.
The standing committee reaffirms its support for ensuring that appropriate legislative frameworks concerning access to information and protection of privacy apply to the federal, territorial and municipal levels of government in Nunavut.
The standing committee recommends that the Government of Nunavut’s response to this report provide a detailed update on its progress to date in working with the Nunavut Association of Municipalities, the Municipal Training Organization and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner to review the issue of access to information and protection of privacy at the municipal level in Nunavut.
The standing committee further recommends that the Government of Nunavut’s response to this report provide a detailed update on its collaborative training initiatives involving municipal employees, Government Liaison Officers, the Municipal Training Organization and other parties.
The standing committee further recommends that the Government of Nunavut, in partnership with appropriate stakeholders, examine such options as introducing access to information and protection of privacy legislation that is specific to municipalities and/or having the territorial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act apply to municipalities in a manner that would address such operational concerns as the ability of municipalities to respond to historical access requests.
The standing committee suggests that such concerns could be addressed through such means as explicitly providing that the legislation does not provide a right to access in respect to information that was generated by municipalities prior to an effective commencement date.
The standing committee notes that recently-passed amendments to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Regulations make Local Housing Authorities and Local Housing Associations subject to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
However, these regulations designate the Minister responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corporation as the “head of each housing authority and housing association” for the purpose of administering the legislation.
The standing committee suggests that a similar approach with respect to smaller municipalities and the role of the Minister of Community and Government Services might serve to help address capacity concerns.
Issue: Application of Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Legislation to District Education Authorities
A new issue that emerged during the Standing Committee’s September 28, 2015, hearing on the 2014-2015 annual report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner to the Legislative Assembly is the application of access to information and protection of privacy legislation to District Education Authorities (DEAs).
During her September 28, 2015, appearance before the standing committee, the Information and Privacy Commissioner noted that:
“The District Education Authorities come to mind because there’s an issue right now involving the privacy of a teacher in a particular community.
The District Education Authority clearly didn’t know how to deal with the issue and that’s because they’re not under Act.
They never had to deal with it before.
On the other hand, the teachers are government employees, so it’s a confusing juxtaposition of different people and different organizations that are responsible for different things and nobody knows what.”
During his appearance before the standing committee, the Government of Nunavut’s
lead witness stated that:
“We will work closely with the [Information and Privacy] Commissioner on that.
I don’t have a firm decision on that for District Education Authorities, but as we mentioned, we continue to improve and this year, we included the local housing authorities and the local housing associations under the Nunavut Housing Corporation.
That’s something similar that we are working with the Department of Education to see how we can go and resolve this.”
The Standing Committee recommends that the Government of Nunavut formally consult with the Information and Privacy Commissioner concerning a practicable timetable for having the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act apply to District Education Authorities.
The standing committee suggests that a similar approach with respect to District Education Authorities and the role of the Minister of Education might serve to help address capacity concerns.
Issue: Health-Specific Privacy Legislation
In her 2009-2010 annual report to the Legislative Assembly, the Information and
Privacy Commissioner noted that:
The challenges of such a system are enormous, but there seems to be the will in most of the country to make it happen …”
“As I have advocated for a number of years, once again I would encourage the development of health specific privacy legislation which will not only accommodate the realities of how personal information is used within the health system, but will also create the privacy framework around electronic medical records as the system moves more and more in that direction.
Nunavut is now the only Canadian jurisdiction which does not have this kind of legislation.”
It should be noted that the current business plan of the Department of Health indicates that one of its priorities for the 2017-2018 fiscal year is to “introduce health-specific privacy legislation.”
The Standing Committee further recommends that copies of the Department of Health’s privacy and security directives concerning electronic health records be tabled in the Legislative Assembly at the earliest opportunity.
Initial work will involve consulting with designated Inuit organizations to determine privacy safeguards currently in effect.
Consultation with the Information and Privacy Commissioner to assess current practices and to determine if additional safeguards are required will also take place.
This issue was revisited during the standing committee’s September 2014 hearings on the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 annual reports of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Nunavut and the Auditor General’s 2014 Follow-up Report on Child and Family Services in Nunavut.
Testimony provided by the Information and Privacy Commissioner during her 2014 appearance before the Standing Committee indicated that consultations with her office had not yet occurred.
The standing committee provided a comprehensive set of recommendations on this issue in its October 28, 2014, report to the House.
“… is committed to working with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and to working co-operatively with Designated Inuit Organizations to develop appropriate guidelines to ensure that safeguards are in place with respect to personal information that is provided concerning matters arising under the Adoption Act and the Child and Family Services Act.
The Government of Nunavut is also taking steps to conduct a review of the necessity and effectiveness of the current statutory provisions and a letter has been forwarded seeking consultation with the Information and Privacy Commissioner for Nunavut.
The tentative date for the meeting is February 24, 2015.
The objective of the meeting/consultation is to seek advice from the [Information and Privacy] Commissioner as to what types of provisions we might put into an agreement to ensure that personal information is adequately protected.
The meeting will be between the relevant senior staff in the Family Services division impacted upon by the stipulations of the above mentioned Acts.
We feel that this consultation is prudent prior to beginning the consultation process with the Inuit organizations on the development of a Protocol for Handling Personal Information Provided to Third Parties Under the Adoption Act and the Child and Family Services Act.
Once the provisions required are clarified, an internal meeting will be held in March of 2015 during which a committee will be struck to develop the terms of reference for the consultations which will be drafted by April 2015.
The consultation process will then commence with expected completion in the fall of 2015.
A final report will be drafted by March 31, 2016.”
During her September 28, 2015, appearance before the standing committee the Information and Privacy Commissioner stated that:
“… I had a fairly long meeting with departmental officials and I have also since written them an even longer letter outlining some the suggestions that came out of that meeting and how we could proceed going forward.
I know that since then, there have been additional meetings with the various officials in I believe it was Health, but it could have been Family Services.
I know the issue is being dealt with. I know that there are ongoing discussions within the government and I expect that I will hear from them again soon.
My letter went out just a couple of months ago. With the summer ensuing, I’m thinking that I may hear from them again in the next few months.
I know it’s an ongoing issue and we are having some fruitful discussions.”
The standing committee recommends that the Government of Nunavut, in its response to this report, provide a detailed update on the status of its work to develop a new Protocol for Handling Personal Information Provided to Third Parties Under the Adoption Act and the Child and Family Services Act.
The standing committee further recommends that the March 31, 2016, “final report” that was referred to in the Government of Nunavut’s formal response to the October 28, 2014, report of the standing committee, be tabled in the Legislative Assembly during its spring 2016 sitting.
During her November 24, 2011, appearance before the standing committee, the Information and Privacy Commissioner stated that:
The standing committee has previously noted that systemic barriers, including financial resources, generally preclude private citizens from exercising their notional right under section 37 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act to appeal a decision by a head of a public body to the Nunavut Court of Justice.
This observation was echoed during the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s September 28, 2015, appearance before the standing committee, during which she stated that:
“I think one of the things I’ve talked about, if there were to be a review of the Act, and we’ve talked about it; I think we even talked about it last year, is that in certain cases, it would be helpful, I think, if the Information and Privacy Commissioner had the ability to appeal something because an individual isn’t likely to do it for a number of reasons: the costs; the effort; the time; the need for a lawyer; the need to have at least some knowledge about how the system works if you wanted to do it yourself.
I had a situation, not in Nunavut, but in the Northwest Territories, where a member of the press, who you would think has some resources behind them, started an appeal and withdrew it very quickly because they soon realized that the appeal required more than simply appearing in court and asking the court to review my recommendations.
So there is a weakness in the Act, definitely.”
In its formal response to the standing committee’s October 28, 2014, report, the Government of Nunavut indicated that it has:
“… begun looking at other jurisdictions in terms of the powers of their oversight equivalent to see what the best approach would be for us to allow the [Information and Privacy] Commissioner more power to initiate an appeal or participate in an appeal of a decision of a head of a public body under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
We commit to further review of the [Information and Privacy] Commissioner’s power as it relates to appeals to the Nunavut Court of Justice under section 36 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.”
An outstanding issue from prior years’ annual reports of the Information and Privacy
Commissioner to the Legislative Assembly concerns her ability to extend the time for
In her 2009-2010 annual report to the Legislative Assembly, the Information and Privacy
Commissioner noted that:
“… committed to making this amendment to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
Currently, this issue is addressed administratively as the GN accepts reviews that are not placed within the 30-day time period, that are done so in good faith. his amendment will be included in the next round of amendments to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.”
Issue: Information and Privacy Commissioner’s Review of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
Earlier this year, the Information and Privacy Commissioner discontinued her private law practice in order to allow her to focus on her work as Information and Privacy Commissioner for both Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
The standing committee is of the view that this will help enable the Information and Privacy Commissioner to engage in more training, education and outreach activities, as well as helping to ensure that her website is kept up-to-date on an ongoing basis.
In her 2014-2015 annual report to the Legislative Assembly, the Information and Privacy Commissioner notes that she plans to:
“… work on creating more content for my web site so as to provide resources, guidelines, FAQs, suggestions and papers on various subjects to assist government agencies and the public.
I will also be taking more time to focus on new initiatives and legislation proposed by public bodies and the Legislative Assembly so as to provide comment on projects which may have an impact on either access to information or on the privacy of individuals.
Thirdly, I will begin to lay the groundwork for a full review of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act with a view to modernizing the legislation and making it more responsive to today’s business realities.”
The Information and Privacy Commissioner’s 2014-2015 annual report also highlights a number of thematic areas that she believes to be worthy of consideration during the review of the legislation:
A legislated duty to document;
Broadening and clarifying which public entities are covered by the Act;
Limiting the ability of public bodies to extend the time for responding to access requests;  Clarifying that disclosure is the rule, even where discretionary exemptions might apply;
Establish[ing] clear accountability mechanisms for managing information at all steps of the digital information life cycle (collection, use, disclosure, retention and disposal) including proper monitoring and sanctions for non-compliance among other things;
Requiring the completion of privacy impact assessments for all new projects undertaken by a public body, with a review by the Information and Privacy Commissioner; and
Strengthening reporting requirements to the public with respect to the disclosure of personal information between public bodies and/or between public bodies and the private sector.
During her September 28, 2015, appearance before the standing committee, a number of questions were posed to the Information and Privacy Commissioner concerning the scope of this review.
Recognizing that the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act was originally passed in 1994, at the dawn of the Internet age, Members engaged in a broad dialogue with the Information and Privacy Commissioner concerning the impact that technology has had on the administration of the legislation.
The Standing Committee recommends that the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Nunavut submit, no later than September 1, 2016, a set of comprehensive and specific recommendations for possible amendments to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
The Standing Committee further recommends that the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s review of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act include consideration of the following matters:
The extent to which the legislation takes into account Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and Inuit Societal Values;
The extent to which the legislation has kept pace with the Internet and other communications technology;
The extent to which the legislation is being used for the purpose of furthering private commercial interests; and
The extent to which the legislation is being used for the purpose of pursuing interpersonal workplace disputes in public bodies.
The Standing Committee notes that the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s review should be submitted to the Office of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly for subsequent transmittal to the standing committee and tabling in the House.
The Standing Committee further notes that this timeline will allow it to begin consideration of the recommendations during its televised hearing on the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s 2015-2016 annual report to the Legislative Assembly, with the ultimate goal of passing legislation prior to the dissolution of the 4th Legislative Assembly.
Issue: Consultation with the Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit Katimajiit