Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as we proceed with this and go to implementation, one of the things we will be working on is a transition plan looking at certain areas such as timing and how things will flow. That’s one of the things we will take into consideration. Of course, there would be some cases because we will have to work with individuals and do the notification; there may be some time lag as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the surgery ward, as the Member stated earlier, for a number of years now when they look at the utilization rates, the number of surgeries that were being done, the elective surgeries being done, there’s a number of times throughout the year when the volumes drop. So looking at how we utilize our staff best and our facility, that’s been decided quite some time ago, but we would, during a number of times throughout the year, close the surgery ward down to elective surgeries. Everybody remains on call if there is surgery required and that continues to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Member brings up a number of good issues that we feel this bill will address: simplifying the process, making it easier for individuals to change their name. As well, one of the factors within this bill will be the consideration when we look in the area of fees, there would be allowances that we could deal with a nil or nominal fee when it comes to names that have been changed where the government had made that change or forced an individual to change their name. So that could be taken into consideration, as well. We are anticipating the bill will...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the office, indeed in the past, has had some problems dealing with the workload issues within that office. We have paid some attention recently to how that office has been functioning and we’ve been informed now that they are up to par on all their files and we will continue to monitor the situation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, to my right is the deputy minister of the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Chuck Parker; and, to my left, Mr. Mark Aitken, director of legislation, Department of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, that Bill 12, Public Health Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to introduce Bill 13, Change of Name Act. This bill replaces the current Change of Name Act.

The bill transfers administrative responsibility for change of name from the court to the registrar general of vital statistics, Department of Health and Social Services. This change will give NWT residents the ability to request a legal change of name through an administrative process that is easy to understand and follow, similar to that in other Canadian jurisdictions.

In keeping with the Human Rights Act of the Northwest Territories, and the Canadian Charter...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we have only one office that deals with these functions. It is the health services administration office up in Inuvik. As it is stated, during the process of establishing this and coming into force, we will have a transition plan put in place. As I am aware of today, the way the office works, different files are given to different individuals in that office. Once that is done, we can clearly make that available to all people in the Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ll have to get that information. I was made aware that the surgery ward was back open. I’m not sure what they’ve done to deal with the space situation, as the Member raised earlier the fact that we’ve taken some of that and turned it into office space. I’ll have to get back to the Member with that information. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, in fact, with this bill going ahead and dealing with it through the health services administration office up in Inuvik, it is one office. The workload is broken up between individuals in that office for different areas. So this would fall into that pattern and would make it much simpler as we proceed forward.

Yes, as I stated earlier, on the issue of when names were changed by no fault of their own or an action by the government through regulations, we would look at establishing a process where, if it is by no fault of their own, we could put a nominal...