INUVIK
A committee on open government met in Inuvik last week to hear input on ways the Government of the Northwest Territories can improve its information sharing and transparency.

Louis Sebert, minister responsible for public engagement and transparency, engages with attendees of an open government meeting last week in Inuvik. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photo

"It's one of our priorities to make an advancement in this area," said Louis Sebert, minister responsible for public engagement and transparency.

Fewer than a dozen people attended the meeting, which the committee said was one of the largest turnouts so far.

The committee floated the question of publishing public servants' names and salaries.

Most of the room's consensus was that salary ranges per position are OK but identifying specific people might cause problems in very small communities.

Confusion emerged over exactly what the GNWT means when it used the terms consultation, engagement and information.

After the committee explained that what it was doing currently was engagement, it was pointed out that the printed sheet to go along with the meeting called it a consultation process.

The input from the meeting will go toward the development of an open-government policy and strategy making all GNWT departments more open.

For Coun. Alana Mero, ease of access to information could be improved.

"Part of the dilemma is departments have changed names, amalgamated, shifted," she said.

"I might want something but I don't even know which department it used to be with and the person I'm asking may not know."

Computer literacy

She doesn't want to have to guess where to go, and she noted computer literacy in many small communities in the territory might not be sufficient enough to navigate GNWT websites.

"Especially in the small communities, people don't have the same sort of computer literacy," said Mero.

"In the larger centres, I'm sure people would know or have access to somebody who could help them search, but if I'm in a small community I may not even be comfortable going on the computer."

Add in people who speak English as a second language and there are often too many layers to get through, she said.

"I just want to open one door and be told where to go," said Mero, referring to making the GNWT's online information as easy as possible to access.

Currently, the territorial government is redesigning its departmental websites to all use the same format and layout.

David Wasylciw, one of the committee members and developer of the website Open NWT, noted that the federal government has gone to a single website.

"The federal experience is trying to get everybody in one spot . instead of it being department driven, because nobody understands what department does what," he said.

Legal resources

Kate Darling, a lawyer with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, said the centralization of the GNWT has reduced legal resources in Inuvik.

"It seems as though resources have been falling away from the legal system up here," she said.

Sebert, also minister of justice, agreed.

"I realize that you don't have the services here that you once did since the legal aid clinic was closed," he said.

"I know that at one stage, quite a few years ago, there was a law line that people could call into and lawyers would volunteer a few hours of their time each week."

Darling said she would like to see an expansion of the legal information available in town, even if it just meant a more knowledgeable help desk based in Yellowknife.

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