The work of Legislative Assembly committees is rarely the sort of thing that catches public attention.
But there can be interesting nuggets found that point to places where the territorial government has fallen down, as well as recommendations on how to fix problems.
The Standing Committee on Government Operations SA国际影视传媒� even the name makes oneSA国际影视传媒檚 eyelids feel heavy SA国际影视传媒� was set to do its work on Thursday, Feb. 11, reviewing the NWT Information and Privacy CommissionerSA国际影视传媒檚 most recent annual report.
That includes finding out how faxes SA国际影视传媒� remember that 1980s technology? SA国际影视传媒� containing sensitive personal and health information were accidentally sent to the wrong location on numerous occasions. Anyone who has been following the GNWT over the past 12 years knows that there have been many scoldings directed at the Department of Health for not finding a solution to that recurring issue.
That brings us to Covid-19. We seem to be seeing light at the end of the tunnel (oh please, donSA国际影视传媒檛 let this be like the last time we thought that and then Omicron came along and threw a wrench into things). It makes a person wonder how much time and effort should go into a major reckoning of the territorial governmentSA国际影视传媒檚 decision-making and actions over the past two years.
There have been so many implications for various realms of our lives: education, business, health, government expenditures and so on.
If we turn back the calendar to October 2020, then-Monfwi MLA Jackson Lafferty railed strenuously against the concept of the $86-million Covid Secretariat and its estimated 150 government positions.
SA国际影视传媒淚t boggles me that we are creating this SA国际影视传媒楾aj MahalSA国际影视传媒� bureaucracy. ItSA国际影视传媒檚 unthinkable,SA国际影视传媒� Lafferty said at the time, adding that it could have instead equated to 300 homes, three new addiction treatment centres or 100 new classroom teachers over five years.
Premier Caroline CochraneSA国际影视传媒檚 response, in part, was: SA国际影视传媒淭he secretariat came up because the Indigenous governments and the people of the Northwest Territories were asking for more supports, and the people who were providing those supports said they could not do it.SA国际影视传媒�
Should we not carry out an audit of the Covid Secretariat and determine whether we got much bang for our buck? ShouldnSA国际影视传媒檛 there be a full accounting?
And then there are decisions where thereSA国际影视传媒檚 still a shoe to drop: all of the government employees who have been suspended without pay for refusing to abide by the GNWTSA国际影视传媒檚 vaccine mandate. What will their fate be? Hay River South MLA Rocky Simpson asked specifically in December about NWT Power Corp. employees who refused to get their jabs.
Minister Diane Archie, whoSA国际影视传媒檚 responsible for the NTPC, replied, SA国际影视传媒淓xemptions unrelated to protected grounds under the Human Rights Act are not being considered at this time but that may change in the future should the situation change as well.SA国际影视传媒�
Stay tuned.
And how about the GNWT taking essentially two years to institute a remote work policy? Talk about being a day late and a dollar short. It raises questions about fairness for workers forced to continue reporting to an office, the largely empty state-of-the-art downtown government building that opened a couple of years ago and the governmentSA国际影视传媒檚 inability to be nimble enough to devise a policy in months, let alone years.
These are some of the many issues deserving thorough examination.
But then you remember that misdirected faxes from the Department of Health are still an agenda item a dozen years later, and you shake your head.
