R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have those numbers on hand. But I can say that what the Member is speaking about is a few years ago, the Government of Canada introduced a number of different benefits for Canadians to help them get through the worst days of the pandemic. We as a department exempted CERB payments so those were not counted against income assistance applications; however, the later benefits were not exempted. And so clients who received those benefits, all they needed to do was declare that they received those. So even just verbally telling the client service officer that they...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So what this motion does is amend the motion to allow for child care centre or day home operators to disclose the identity of a complainant in certain circumstances. And so that would be when they would like to retain legal counsel to help them navigate this complaint, help them deal with the complaint, or alternatively, I recognize that not everyone wants to hire a lawyer. And really, this complaint process is not, you know, that administratively burdensome that you would necessarily need a lawyer. The later appeal process is perhaps the time when you might consider...

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.

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 CanadaNWT Canadawide 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...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 82, Legal Profession Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Plain Language Summary for Bill 79, An Act to Amend the Judicature Act.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And we did learn lessons from COVID. That's why this budget includes the biggest overhaul to the income assistance program in a generation with millions of dollars more budgeted that will go directly to clients. The situation the Member's talking about, though, in the future we're still going to see those situations because at the end of the day, the program requires people to declare their income. And if they don't declare their income, there's consequences. However, we are looking at even that aspect. There needs to be some rules but we're definitely taking a more...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So as I said, we did exempt CERB, but we did not exempt the subsequent support programs, but we did inform all applicants that if they received those programs, they needed to declare it. So at this point, I can't go back and exempt some individuals and not others because others did declare it, and they didn't receive this benefit. And so it wouldn't be fair in that sense. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With us today we have Mr. Matthew Miller, the president of the NWT Teachers Association, and Mr. David Murphy, the executive director of the NWT Teachers Association. They're joining us today for the rest reading of the Education Act bill that I'll be moving forward later. And Mr. Speaker, I also want to recognize my mother Bayline's in the gallery, as well as my spouse Chantelle Lafferty. Welcome.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And this motion was brought forward at the clause by clause, and at that time I did not concur with it. I think there was a bit of, I think, miscommunication between myself and committee in terms of what this actual this clause meant. I think there was a perception that it meant that the complaint itself could not be discussed with anyone. But the issue was the just the identity of the complainant we did not want exposed.

This act or this bill proposes to provide child care providers with information, a summary of the complaint when it is made, which is currently not...