Legislation
The Legislative legacy of the first two Nunavut Assemblies is substantial and fundamental in impact. Okalik introduced the first Nunavut Human Rights Act, which had never been done in the former NWT, and took a principled stand on its need to cover homosexuals. New structures for energy generation and regulation were created with the Qulliq Energy Corporation Act (dividing the assets of the joint Nunavut/NWT Crown Energy utility and creating its Nunavut successor) and the Utilities Rates Review Council Act. Regional Education and Health Boards were abolished and these functions and employees were moved into the departments of Education and Health and Social Services (respectively). These changes and Acts were original creations, scoped for the modest scale and limited capacity of Nunavut.
The consultative process of the Wildlife Act, which implemented and supported the hunting rights set out in the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, was an extensive piece of work, frequently attempted but never accomplished in the former Northwest Territories. It took two attempts to gain a consensus on an original, some might say courageous and revolutionary Education Act which was so comprehensive it is still being implemented, and the linguistic, legal and cultural pitfalls of the Official Languages Act and the Inuit Language Protection Act guarantee that these pieces of legislation will be formative documents for many years to come.
Innovative and strong controls on purchasing and youth access were instituted by the Tobacco Control Act and a unique set of timely and accessible remedies was delivered into the hands of Justice of the Peace and community member through the terms of the Family Abuse Intervention Act.
Read more about this topic: Paul Okalik
Famous quotes containing the word legislation:
“The laboring man and the trade-unionist, if I understand him, asks only equality before the law. Class legislation and unequal privilege, though expressly in his favor, will in the end work no benefit to him or to society.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“There were two unpleasant surprises [about Washington]. One was the inertia of Congress, the length of time it takes to get a complicated piece of legislation through ... and the other was the irresponsibility of the press.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“Statecraft is soulcraft. Just as all education is moral education because learning conditions conduct, much legislation is moral legislation because it conditions the action and the thought of the nation in broad and important spheres of life.”
—George F. Will (b. 1941)