Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. What I want to do is just read a sentence from a letter received from the Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated. This is a letter dated May 3, 2019:

"Therefore, the SSI maintains that the Sahtu Dene and Metis must have a substantial role in the development of regulations under the bills in a manner consistent with the operation of the working group with respect to the development of the bills. It is not enough for the GNWT to simply consult with the SSI about the draft regulations."

This is the part I really want everybody to pay attention to:

"To that end, the SSI and other...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think it's fair to say that all of committee agreed with this recommendation. We all have maybe some different ways we want to go at this. We are going to deal with that when we get to the clause-by-clause review of the bill, but we heard very strong evidence from the Indigenous governments themselves that they want to have a clear role moving forward in development of regulations, similar to the process that was used in actually developing the bill itself. I support the recommendation. I support co-management. This is coming directly from the Indigenous governments...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I recognize that the clock is ticking. I do feel compelled to respond to some of the things that I heard.

I think that I heard the honourable Member for Nunakput say that this amendment is an example of people trying to lock up areas. I want to assure everyone in this Assembly that that is not why I am here. I have lived here for 35 years, almost. I worked for Indigenous governments when I first arrived. I have never said that I speak on behalf of Indigenous governments. I am here to make sure that our government honours the agreements and Indigenous rights as they have...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today, I made a statement about land use planning in the Wek'eezhii management area. To be clear, while I take issue with why GNWT is picking up all the costs related to this effort, I support land use planning there. The Tlicho agreement refers to a land use planning body being established by agreement. Can the Minister of Lands tell us whether that body has been established, and what it is called? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I rise pursuant to Rule 21(1) of the Rules of the Legislative Assembly to make a personal explanation. In my Member's statement and oral questions of May 24, 2019, I said that large emitters of greenhouse gasses, the diamond mines, will get all their carbon tax back under the July 2018 proposal released by the Minister of Finance. The Premier corrected this statement in his response to my questions by stating that large emitters would be paying a carbon tax on any motive fuels purchased.

Double-checking the publicly available information from the Department of...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Minister's answer on that one, and I don't think I have anything further other than to say I haven't heard any clear evidence that the insurance industry is going to vacate the market here in the Northwest Territories, so I don't know why the Cabinet is so worked up about this and does not want it included in the bill. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the deputy minister telling me about the concerns of the insurance industry, but there's no evidence, then, that this has caused any market disruption by including genetic characteristics as a prohibited ground in the federal legislation. I just wanted to establish that.

My next question is about, and I did read one of the documents that my honourable colleague from Kam Lake tabled from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. It's called the Potential Economic Impact of a Ban on the Use of Genetic Information for Life and Health Insurance. It's a very...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that this government has not received any communications from individual companies or brokers that anybody is going to withdraw coverage from our residents. The federal government has already done this. It was a private member's bill, but it was passed in the parliament. What has been the experience? Have insurance companies withdrawn coverage from any areas of federal jurisdiction as a result of the passage of the bill at the federal level? What has been the general experience? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. The Minister tabled this letter from the CLHIA in the House on March 8th. Can the Minster or his staff tell us whether there has been any representation to this government from either insurance brokers or individual insurance companies that there might be consequences if genetic diversity was added to the bill, such as things like withdrawing potential coverage from the Northwest Territories? Have they received anything like that? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Again, I'd like to thank the Minister for confirming my understanding of how this committee is going to work. The legal authority for completed plans in the Gwich'in and Sahtu settlement areas are set out in some detail in the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act. Section 22.5.3 of the Tlicho agreement says: "The parties may by agreement establish a land use planning body and a mechanism for the preparation, approval, and implementation of a land use plan that applies to Wek'eezhii, other than national parks." Clearly, the authority of such a land use planning...