Jane Stewart

[Aboriginal Affairs, March 9th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, as a result of the investigation that was completed there were seven recommendations which came to me for implementation to improve the administration of such letters in my department.

We are implementing those recommendations as we speak. We have taken responsible action.

[Aboriginal Affairs, March 9th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I believe I just did.

[Aboriginal Affairs, March 9th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I have said on a number of occasions in the House that I took the circumstances surrounding the Bruce Starlight letter very seriously.

I asked for an investigation and it was completed. The privacy commissioner too has completed an investigation and was unable to identify how the letter got into the hands of Chief Whitney.

Having said that, it must be a very trying time for Mr. Starlight. I apologize to him for anything that my department did to create that difficult time for Mr. Starlight.

[Indian Affairs, February 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, this House knows I took the circumstances around Mr. Starlight's letter very, very seriously.

On January 14, I asked the RCMP if it would review the department for the leak. It said that was the responsibility of the department. It was important enough for me to ask someone from outside the department to come in and do a thorough review.

The investigator has completed his report and he has provided the information. As I promised, I presented the results of that report today. We are taking action on the results.

[Health, February 23rd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the best I can do is reiterate what the Minister of Health said on the issue last week in the House.

He said that no one would be happier than he with a compensation package for hepatitis C victims. He said that victims were best served with a package of compensation that involved both levels of government, and he said that he was prepared to wait a little longer to see if we could get that agreement.

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 18th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, following the question from the hon. member yesterday I looked into the circumstances surrounding this letter.

First of all, it is two years old. Second, the contents of the memo are not considered to be protected. Third, the name of the requester is not in the letter.

The letter in question is, in fact, context and only context about the information request.

The letter should not and did not affect the decision to release the information the requester was entitled to.

Finally, the truth is that the bottom line of all this is that the requester got the information he asked for.

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 17th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said time and again, I take these issues very seriously. That is why I asked for an outside investigator to come in to review the issues facing us with regard to access to information and letters of confidentiality.

I wish the opposition would let this process take its course and let us deal with facts and recommendations by the investigator.

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 17th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said on numerous occasions in this House, we are working very hard to look at the implications surrounding a particular letter with regard to access to information.

The investigation I have asked for will make recommendations to me not only about this letter but about other procedures and policies in the department. From those recommendations we will act.

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 11th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, there are two things. First, I did not break the confidentiality. Second, it is amazing how this system works very well when a minister forgets a name and it can be found. The name of the investigator is Mr. Newman.

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 11th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the investigator will make his report to me when he has completed it.