Nunavut MLA committee hearings to look at safety, privacy, language

Nunavut’s legislative assembly is holding standing committeee hearings later this month to discuss a host of newsworthy topics including child and family services and the privacy of information held by government, a Sept. 2 news release from the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut said.

The assembly’s Standing Committee on Oversight of Government Operations and Public Accounts will hold hearings Sept. 16 to Sept. 23, the release said.

Canada’s auditor general, Michael Ferguson, will appear before the committee Sept. 16 and Sept. 17 for a follow up report on child and family services in Nunavut, the release said.

A report tabled earlier this year found “unsatisfactory” progress in improving child protection standards in the territory, based on wide-ranging recommendations made by the auditor general in 2011.

Nunavut’s commissioner of information and privacy, Elaine Keenan Bengts, will appear before the committee Sept. 18 to present her annual reports for 2012-13 and 2013-14, the release said.

These will be her first reports since her office scored a major victory earlier this year by gaining powers to investigate government agencies for breaches of privacy.

“The Standing Committee’s upcoming hearing will provide an opportunity to publicly discuss such complex and challenging issues as the protection of personal health information,” Allan Rumbolt, MLA for Hudson Bay, said in the release.

And the territory’s language rights watchdog, Sandra Inutiq, will present her annual report for 2012-13 on Sept. 22.

Inutiq plead for more federal funding to reverse the declining use of the Inuit language a year ago.

The hearings are open to the public and can also be seen on local community cable television stations.

A full broadcast schedule, and other information on the hearings, can be found the legislative assembly’s website.