Louis Sebert

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There had been information sessions which have already taken place in Fort Providence on the 19th of February and in Fort Good Hope on February 20th. A meeting was scheduled to be held in Tulita on February 22nd but was cancelled due to a weather advisory. That meeting will be rescheduled as soon as possible. I'm not sure if the department is planning on visiting other communities, but I can certainly take that up with the department and get back to the Member opposite.

No, that is not the case. Perhaps Mr. Hagen could add something.

Well, of course, Mr. Chair, we are always reviewing our estimates going ahead. There is no money specifically set aside for a five-year review as I understand it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have been reporting on all Ministers' meetings with outside parties since April 2015, and, prior to that, the Premier had previously published a report of all of his meetings with outside parties, going back to January 2014, so this registry has been in effect for some time. Of course, staff in each Minister's office is responsible for entering and verifying the information that is published. Now, the information that goes into that registry is the date of the meeting, name of organization, parties in attendance, lead Minister and other attending Ministers, and type...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's a little difficult to answer that because I think there's been some back and forth, if I can put it that way, as to these positions. The point being is that we are determined to resolve this matter, and I understand that one of the concerns of committee is that they want it resolved sooner rather than later. I think we basically agree with that. Thank you.

I guess to add to that, I am looking at some of the other things we are doing. You have heard already that we are going to continue to build an inventory tracking system to address the handling and processing of securities, and the system design and testing will be completed in the 2017-2018 fiscal year and go live the following year. We are also considering securities in our current land, water and resource legislative initiatives, which includes amendments to the Commissioner's Land Act and Northwest Territories Lands Act. We are making progress, though, admittedly, not as quickly as we...

I'm going to ask Ms. Hilderman to assist with the response to that question. Thank you.

Well, there are several different departments involved in this. Of course, I have mentioned MACA. Taxation, of course, taxation amounts are pursued by the Department of Finance. I do not know if Mr. Hagen wants to add anything to this. We do realize this is a complex issue that we would all want resolved by the settlement of land claims. Thank you.

I'm not sure which date the Member might be referring to. Is he referring to a consultation prior to the promise being made in the early 1990s or prior to properties actually being transferred? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Some lands that are, say, suitable for grazing are leased at $0.25 a hectare or $50 per annum, whichever is greater. Beyond that, generally, Commissioner's land that is used for agricultural purposes is leased at 5 per cent of the assessed value, which is, well, currently 50 per cent of the standard lease rate for other commercial properties, so there is an incentive and very reasonable cost to lease land. Thank you, Mr. Chair.