Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker,

Committee held a public engagement period from July 20 to August 20, 2021, and a virtual public hearing on September 9, 2021.

Committee received written submissions and public presentations from Aurora College, the City of Yellowknife, the Northwest Territories Metis Nation, and the Tlicho government.

The themes brought forward reflect the composition and appointment of the Board of Governors and the two councils, regional representation, implementation of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), academic independence, and...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I too wanted to thank the committee for this work. My heart says to support the removal of limiters, but then when the fiscal realities come in and you know, the counterpoints are made, it's hard to make the decision one way or the other. So I do really appreciate the committee focusing on the state of the homes.

As I've lived longer and longer in the North and become more aware as an engineer and in the course work I've taken, I realize how poorly our homes are equipped in the North and our buildings are equipped in the North to deal with our extreme climate. So I did...

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I do appreciate that the GNWT is covering this for the school boards. We, as Yellowknife MLAs, did hear a lot about this being a big concern for them. And I do recognize that $175,000 is not very much money in the grand scheme of things, but more asking the questions for my own knowledge. So I'm glad to hear that the due diligence was performed. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, my questions were similar to the MLA Johnson's. But I guess, then, my question would be why is this being represented as a negative number if it's a cost that we're now incurring? Were we providing funding to them before that we're now not providing, and it's being moved into future years. I guess if the Minister could just explain a bit why it comes in as a negative number. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I appreciate the Minister answering off the cuff there on not quite a financial question.

And it is my understanding that most of that data, and all the data collected in the North, does play into a wider database that can be accessed and used by the government, so always a big fan of spending money on any sort of scientific study.

My question has to do with industry partnerships around the Slave Geologic Province road. While very important we get Indigenous engagement and involvement and even ownership in that road and its operations, has the Minister been...

I just corrected myself and said "kept with the community." Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Dissenting opinion of Katrina Nokleby, MLA for Great Slave.

The GNWT has committed to undertaking a review of its approach to the NWT’s mining fiscal regime. As a first step, the GNWT commissioned a study by international firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to provide an analysis of tax and royalty benchmark mining in the Northwest Territories. Some Members of the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment (SCEDE) had concerns regarding the scope of work of this research and proceeded to hire an independent economic consultant to provide an opinion on the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, The NWT has always been a resourcebased economy. Even before the onset of colonial settlement, the Yellowknives Dene made tools from copper mined on the banks of the very lake that my district is named for. Later today, we will hear SCEDE's report, and my opinion, on the GNWT's approach to the Mining Regime Fiscal Review. In my dissenting opinion, I lay out what I see as the reasons why this has not been a good use of committee resources. One area upon which I touch is exploration.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to expand upon this point further as I feel that at...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I just want to say that I'm very supportive of this bill. The first time I ever thought about what the meaning of the word "aboriginal" could mean was at a Pathfinder meeting, which is a division of Girl Guides, when one of the Girl Guides or the Pathfinders turned to me and asked why the holiday was called Aboriginal Day when AB means not and therefore it meant not aboriginal. So in her mind, already at that age, she knew that the that the wording was wrong and she couldn't understand it. So I'm happy to sit here today and see during my term that this...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I notice that the additional funds here are for the installation of the pedestrian walkway adjacent to the incoming road to the Assembly. Given that the ingress and egress roads of the Assembly have some geotechnical issues, I'm wondering if the Assembly has thought of perhaps expanding this and doing an entire route way fixup in the coming year. Thank you, Madam Chair.