Northern Municipalities Want Act Changes: Harrison

Northern Municipalities Want Act Changes: Harrison

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 12:24

 

 

The province’s minister for Municipal Affairs is shedding more light on a proposed change to the Northern Municipalities Act.

 

Jeremy Harrison says amendments allowing towns and councils to force candidates to undergo criminal record checks won’t become law until spring at the earliest.

 

Harrison says the move was brought about after a strong push from northern stakeholders, and it will be up to each community to determine what to do with the results of the criminal record check once they have it.

 

“The information will be publicly available for any voter, any citizen, to take a look at in the town office. And I think there will be an opportunity, if there is a decision made in that regard, to put those (details) on the Internet or something of that nature,” the minister says.

 

New North chair Georgina Jolibois says her understanding of the new legislation is that candidates in future elections may have to disclose their criminal records by announcing them in public forums or on campaign literature.

 

Jolibois, who is also mayor of La Loche, says the onus will be on the candidate to make sure the public is aware of their background.

 

“It was my understanding that a candidate would have to make this disclosure on his or her own — maybe do it at a public forum or maybe put it on his or her pamphlet or his written material (in order) to notify people of his or her criminal background,” she says.

 

Harrison notes that the criminal record checks are not retroactive, so people won’t be able to apply information to the last election.