Legislature opens next week for mini-session

ANNETTE BOURGEOIS

Politicians head to Yellowknife next week to wrap up some unfinished government business before the summer.

The GNWT Legislative Assembly is set to reconvene next Tuesday and cabinet ministers and ordinary members have been meeting all week to flesh out an agenda. The House is scheduled to sit for a two-week session.

Doug Schauerte, deputy clerk of the legislative assembly, said the House will likely debate a report of the sub-committee on government operations. Its report discusses strategies for employment in the North as well as affirmative actions plans.

Dvision-related issues are also expected to be a hot topic of debate.

Schauerte said there’s also some housekeeping legislation “to correct inconsistencies and errors in the statutes of the NWT.”

What won’t be discussed during the next two weeks is the family law legislation review, which includes proposed changes to various laws dealing with family life such as domestic relationships, adoptions, and child support, custody and protection.

Because of public meetings currently underway to discuss those changes, that legislation will not likely be considered in the House until the fall, when it’s expected to reconvene.

After the social-programs committee completes public hearings, it will meet in September to discuss possible amendments to the proposed legislation.

Any legislation must be debated in the House before becoming law.

Because the session is only two weeks long, MLAs won’t be holding community meeting with their constituents.