Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories

A single Commissioner, statutory officer of the NWT Legislative Assembly, oversees both public-sector access and privacy matters and health-information privacy — there is no separate health-privacy regulator. The Commissioner provides independent review and resolution of decisions made by public bodies and health custodians regarding access requests, investigates complaints (with or without a formal request), holds inquiries and issues recommendations, reviews privacy-breach complaints, comments on proposed legislation and data-matching or record-linkage projects, and provides guidance to public bodies and residents on their rights and obligations.

Laws and regulations administered:

A separate government body, the Access and Privacy Office, sits within the Department of Justice and administers day-to-day ATIPPA request processing — this is an administrative function, not an oversight or regulatory role.

Pending and proposed legislation

  • Major ATIPPA amendments (Bill 29) came into force July 30, 2021, adding Commissioner order-making power, extending the Act to community governments, and eliminating application fees.
  • A public ATIPP Act review ran September 9–29, 2025, producing a "What We Heard" report to inform possible amendments; no bill had been introduced as of a May 2026 update.
  • A statutorily mandated ten-year review of the Health Information Act was tabled at the Legislative Assembly on March 4, 2026; no specific legislative amendments had been announced as of this writing.
  • No NWT-specific AI legislation has been identified.
  • Bill 49, Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act — introduced June 1, 2026, passed Second Reading, and referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations; not yet at Third Reading as of this writing. It would create a civil process letting residents confidentially report properties believed to be used habitually for illegal activity, with a new government investigative unit empowered to act — including eviction — without a criminal conviction.

This bill is contested. Justice Minister Jay Macdonald said it was modelled on "best practices from jurisdictions like the Yukon and Saskatchewan" and meant to help residents "take back their communities." Frame Lake MLA Julian Morse cast the lone vote against advancing it, saying he found no "strong or consistent public evidence that Scan regimes have reduced drug-related crime," noting parts of Yukon's equivalent law were "ultimately ruled to be unconstitutional," and warning the confidential-complaint model could be used to "settle scores" through vexatious accusations with no described safeguards. The government's own public consultation reportedly showed "strong polarization," with some submissions warning the law could shift harm onto tenants and other vulnerable people.

  • Bill 45, Civil Forfeiture Act — introduced March 4, 2026, passed Second Reading, and referred to committee; not yet at Third Reading. It would let the territorial government seize property connected to crime through civil proceedings, on a balance-of-probabilities standard rather than the criminal standard, without requiring a conviction.

This bill is contested. Minister Macdonald said the goal is to "disrupt" profitable criminal activity, with courts as "the keeper of the gate." Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan questioned whether the bill's threshold is vague enough to sweep in minor infractions, while Justice officials themselves cautioned that proving older, retroactive claims becomes more difficult the further back an allegation reaches.