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BILL NO. 25
Government Bill
3rd Session, 56th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
44 Elizabeth II, 1995-96
An Act Respecting
Government Records in Nova Scotia
CHAPTER 7
ACTS OF 1995-96
The Honourable Gerald J. O'Malley
Minister of Supply and Services
AS ASSENTED TO BY THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
JANUARY 11, 1996
Halifax
Printed by Queen's Printer for Nova Scotia
An Act Respecting
Government Records in Nova Scotia
Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:
1 This Act may be cited as the Government Records Act.
2 The purpose of this Act is to
(a) vest the records of public bodies in Her Majesty in
right of the Province;
(b) ensure comprehensive and accurate description
and classification of records in the custody or under the
control of a public body; and
(c) authorize the retention and disposition of the
records of public bodies.
3 In this Act,
(a) "Committee" means the Government Records
Committee;
(b) "head", in relation to a public body, means
(i) where the public body is a department, branch
or office of the Government of Nova Scotia, the
member of the Executive Council who presides over it,
(ii) where the public body is a board, commission,
committee, office, foundation, agency, tribunal, task
force, council, association or other body of persons
reporting directly to a member of the Executive
Council in respect of its day-to-day operations, that
member,
(iii) where the public body is a board,
commission, foundation, agency, tribunal, task force,
council, association or other body of persons not
reporting directly to a member of the Executive
Council in respect of its day-to-day operations, the
chair or presiding officer of the board, commission,
committee, office, foundation, agency, tribunal,
association or other body of persons, or
(iv) in any other case, the person designated by the
regulations as the head of the public body.
(c) "Minister" means the member of the Executive
Council assigned responsibility for this Act;
(d) "municipal unit" means a city, an incorporated
town, a municipality of a county or district, a regional
municipality or village commissioners incorporated
pursuant to the Village Service Act or to whom that Act
applies and includes any agency, board or commission
thereof;
(e) "Public Archives" means the Public Archives of
Nova Scotia;
(f) "public body" means a Government department or
a board, commission, committee, office, foundation,
agency, tribunal, task force, council, association or other
body of persons, whether incorporated or unincorporated,
all the members of which or all the members of the board
of management or board of directors of which
(i) are appointed by order of the Governor in
Council, or
(ii) if not so appointed or specified, in the
discharge of their duties are public officers or servants
of Her Majesty in right of the Province,
but does not include the House of Assembly, its committees,
the Legislature Internal Economy Board, the Office of the
Speaker, the Office of the Clerk of the House, the Office of
the Legislative Counsel, the Office of the Conflict of
Interest Commissioner, the caucus offices, the offices of
party leaders or any other offices within the jurisdiction of
the House of Assembly or the Speaker and, for greater
certainty, does include
(iii) the Office of the Auditor General,
(iv) the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, and
(v) the Office of the Ombudsman,
and includes a public body designated as a public body
pursuant to clause 14(1)(c),
(g) "records" means information or data that is
recorded or stored by graphic, photographic, electronic,
mechanical or other means and includes public archives
vested in Her Majesty in right of the Province;
(h) "records schedule" means a comprehensive
description and classification of all records of a public
body with a plan governing the life cycle of the records
from creation or receipt to disposition or permanent
preservation.
4 (1) This Act applies to all records in the custody or
under the control of a public body, including court
administration records.
(2) This Act does not apply to
(a) a record in a court file, a record of a judge of
the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of
Nova Scotia, Family Court or Provincial Court, or
judicial administration records;
(b) personal, political, party or constituency
records of a member of the House of Assembly or the
Executive Council; or
(c) material placed in the custody of the Public
Archives by or for a person, agency or other
organization other than a public body.
5 The Minister has the general supervision and
management of this Act.
6 (1) There shall be a Government Records Committee
consisting of
(a) the Provincial Archivist;
(b) the Deputy Minister of Finance or such other
officer of the Department of Finance as the Deputy
Minister may designate;
(c) the Auditor General of Nova Scotia or such
other officer as the Auditor General may designate;
(d) the Deputy Attorney General or such other
officer of the Department of Justice as the Deputy
Attorney General may designate;
(e) the Deputy Minister of Supply and Services or
such other officer as the Deputy Minister may
designate; and
(f) such other persons, not exceeding two, as the
Governor in Council may determine, appointed by the
Governor in Council.
(2) The Provincial Archivist is the Chair of the
Committee.
7 The Committee shall
(a) review records schedules submitted to it by a
public body;
(b) review procedures for the retention, preservation,
destruction or alienation of records identified in a records
schedule; and
(c) recommend approval of records schedules to the
Minister.
8 No person shall destroy, alienate or transfer to the
Public Archives the records of a public body except in
accordance with a records schedule approved by the Minister
pursuant to this Act for those records.
9 (1) Every head of a public body having custody or
control over records shall prepare one or more records
schedules that
(a) describe, classify and index all the records in
the custody or under the control of the public body;
(b) govern the life cycle of the records, including
(i) the creation, receipt, handling, control,
organization, retention, maintenance, security,
preservation, conservation, destruction or
alienation of the records,
(ii) the period prescribed for retention of
records in the custody or under the control of the
public body, and
(iii) the disposition of the records, whether
by transfer to the Public Archives, destruction or
alienation; and
(c) provide for retention periods and establish
whether each class of record is to be permanently
preserved, destroyed or otherwise alienated from the
custody or control of the public body.
(2) The head of a public body shall forward each
records schedule to the Minister for review and
recommendation by the Committee and, upon doing so, so
advise the Provincial Archivist.
10 (1) Upon receipt of a records schedule from the head
of a public body, the Committee shall review the records
schedule.
(2) Upon completion of its review of a records
schedule, the Committee shall
(a) forward the records schedule to the Minister
with its recommendation for approval; or
(b) return the records schedule to the head of the
public body with the Committee's recommendations.
11 (1) Upon receipt of a records schedule and a
recommendation to approve it from the Committee, the Minister
may approve the records schedule.
(2) The records schedule of a public body has effect
upon approval by the Minister.
12 The head of a public body shall
(a) apply each records schedule for which the head is
responsible and that has been approved in accordance with
this Act; and
(b) protect and maintain records in the custody or
under the control of the public body so that records are
(i) usable and accessible,
(ii) transferable,
(iii) legible and understandable, and
(iv) maintained in formats, media and conditions
that ensure retention and preservation in accord with
the records schedules.
13 The records kept by or in the custody of a public body
or any Provincial or municipal officer in pursuance of the
officer's duty as such officer are vested in Her Majesty in right
of the Province.
14 (1) The Minister may make regulations respecting any
matter or thing that in the opinion of the Minister is necessary
to carry out effectively the intent and purpose of this Act and,
without limiting the generality of the foregoing,
(a) designating and establishing classes of
records for the purposes of retention, destruction or
permanent preservation of the records of a public
body;
(b) respecting the practices to be observed in
dealing with records for the purposes of disposition
and retention, and respecting the transfer of records to
the Public Archives for permanent preservation;
(c) designating, as a public body for purpose of
this Act,
(i) any municipal unit,
(ii) any school board as defined in the
Education Act,
(iii) a university or college,
(iv) any agency, association, board,
commission, corporation, office, society or other
body
(A) any member of which is appointed by
the Governor in Council or a member of the
Executive Council,
(B) a controlling interest in the share
capital of which is owned by Her Majesty in
right of the Province or any of its agencies, or
(C) that performs functions pursuant to an
enactment;
(d) defining any word or expression used in this
Act but not defined in this Act.
(2) The exercise by the Governor in Council of the
authority contained in subsection (1) is regulations within the
meaning of the Regulations Act.
15 Chapter 374 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Public
Records Act, is repealed.
16 Chapter 375 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Public
Records Disposal Act, is repealed.