N.W.T. MLA calls for territorial ombudsman

The Northwest Territories is one of only three jurisdictions in Canada without an ombudsmans office, and some members of the legislative assembly think that should change.

Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro is calling on the government to consider establishing an independent ombudsman office to investigate complaints and act as an impartial third party.

"There are times when a resident, rightly or wrongly, feels that they have been treated unjustly or without fairness," said Bisaro. "In most cases they have no option for appeal. Some organizations do have a complaints process, we do have some appeals within our own government organization. But if you lose on that front, there is absolutely no other option to appeal, except to go to court. Court is not a viable option for many people."

Most members backed Bisaro's motion, although Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche was not in favour.

He said he is concerned about the high costs of an ombudsmans office. He is also concerned about where such an office would be located.

"The other consideration as well is, I believe that such a territorial office would be located in Yellowknife again and certainly that's nothing that I can certainly support," he said.

Premier Bob McLeod said an office in the territory could cost up to $1 million a year.