SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The information and privacy commissioner of the NWT wants community governments included under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

In a presentation to the standing committee on government operations Sept. 23, commissioner Elaine Keenan Bengts said she has recommended to the territorial government on several occasions that municipal governments, including Yellowknife, should have a set of rules to follow on how they gather information and release it.

"This is a benefit not only to the public but also to the municipalities who currently have no guidelines or rules which can assist them in governing what can and cannot be disclosed to the public," she wrote in her 2007-2008 annual report.

She said having rules in place will also protect municipal governments from breach of privacy lawsuits.

"All it takes is a really big breach to cause a community to go bankrupt," said Keenan Bengts.

She said she has been told putting municipalities under the act would be too expensive, to which she replied: "I understand the concerns ... it's a little shortsighted to think that it'll cost a lot of money. It's not costly if you do it right."

Yellowknife Mayor Gord Van Tighem said the city has been preparing for the possibility that the city would some day be required to fall under the act, but while Yellowknife might be ready, other NWT communities don't have the same resources.

"The City of Yellowknife, as an example, has been developing computer systems that are compatible with that, but many of the others wouldn't have the same, at least, a computer-based system to follow through on that," he said.

"We're prepared and have been preparing for that eventuality, but to the overall cost-benefit to that territorially, I don't think we're really there."

Van Tighem also said formalizing access to information procedures might actually lead to restrictions on the flow of information.

"People say 'I need to know such and such' and here it is," he said. "But under that system, they say they need to know such and such and (government employees) say 'well here is the form and by law I'm required to do this and oh, by the way, I'm blacking out this part.' It would possibly standardize things, but to what cost and to what benefit?"

Keenan Bengts also recommended a review of the act as a whole, something she said hasn't been done in the 12 years she's been commissioner. She also suggested that, as part of the review, the government look at making the commissioner's position part-time or full-time rather than by contract.

"Right now, I work simply on a contract basis. I do the work that comes in the door and I get paid for the work that comes in the door but there is no time to do any proactive stuff."

She stated in her latest report that the number of privacy requests is increasing each year and requires a "significant commitment of time to stay abreast of developments but that time is often not available when the position is part-time. It therefore becomes more and more difficult to maintain an appropriate level of expertise on some of the privacy issues."