Yukon government recommits to review emergencies act
Yukon has been under a state of emergency for much of the last two years
The Yukon's Liberal government says it will review the Civil Emergency Measures Act (CEMA) after spirited debate in the legislature this week.
The act currently lets the territory declare a state of emergency without a vote from MLAs.
Richard Mostyn, the territory's community services minister, tabled a motion in the Legislature this week to introduce the review.
"We are going to do it properly," Mostyn told reporters, saying changes to the act would have widespread implications across the territory. "We need all the voices at the table. "
The government says the act allowed its agencies to implement temporary public health measures and slow the spread of COVID-19.
The territory first declared a state of emergency on March 18, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial declaration was revoked in August 2021 and re-introduced in November to account for spiking case counts.
The government initially promised to review the act in Mostyn's 2021 mandate letter.
That letter said the review is being initiated "in response to the challenges faced by the COVID-19 pandemic," with the goal to "better equip the Yukon to address future emergencies."
The review will also take another look at the Public Health and Safety Act that oversees how, among other things, medical officials can make regulatory changes to control the spread of disease.
Opposition amendments to the act defeated
On Monday, the Yukon Party introduced a private members bill that called for a series of specific changes to CEMA, including a mandatory vote up to a week after a declaration is called, and veto powers for MLAs.
"It's incredible, strong, broad and sweeping powers that they give themselves when they enact a state of emergency," party leader Currie Dixon told reporters in an after-sitting scrum.
"That power needs to have some legislative oversight."
The Yukon Party's bill was defeated on the floor later in the week.
The Liberals and the NDP both say it was not a partisan move.
"They hadn't [put] a lot of thought into this whole thing, and the New Democrats agreed with us," Mostyn said.
The NDP, who hold the balance of power in the legislature, initially committed to voting the Yukon Party's bill through to second reading and on to committee review.
When the Liberals offered a full review, NDP leader Kate White decided to support that instead.
The next day, the NDP introduced their own motion calling for a public inquiry into the COVID-19 emergency declaration and its renewal from 2020-2022.
White said Yukoners experiences and opinions about how the territory handled the pandemic need to be taken into consideration when the act is being reviewed.
"I hope people share because it's going to be the experiences of people who just lived through this that's going to affect how the people in the future live through it," she said.
Mostyn said he didn't think the NDP's call for a public inquiry is "necessary," because he said the government's been "open and transparent" with how the act has been used in the last two years.