Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize a former coworker of mine, as well as a candidate for Great Slave in the upcoming election, and as well as president of the YWCA, Ms. Kate Reid. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. This motion just says that before we enter into one of these agreements, they're going to come to AOC and say, you got any thoughts. I found it odd the Premier said that, you know, we enter into agreements all the time without talking to Regular Members because it's actually been exact opposite in my experience. I think I got two briefings on the offshore accord negotiations before we actually signed them. I think we I got a briefing on almost every single land claim and what was going on through the special committee on reconciliation in Indigenous affairs. I...

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I just will make some general comments on my thoughts. I think we as the government are in a pretty good place in implementing UNDRIP. We have a bill here before us today which is, you know, essentially identical to the ones passed by the federal government and British Columbia with a few minor tweaks. You know, there was a bit of a debate whether we should have done this earlier in the Assembly or a bit of a debate whether we should not have done it at all. I think, you know, getting it done within the life of this Assembly, considering it's a bill that you know...

Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories in its capacity as a member of the action plan committee, advocate for the action plan committee to choose an independent person or entity to lead the fiveyear review of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Implementation Act. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. So we did initially amend this as has been discussed to include land use plans. And it's one of these clauses that as far as I can tell doesn't accomplish anything. Land use plans, if they are legally enforceable are legally enforceable, and they're under the MVRMA federal statute or another applicable land claim group. You know, we sometimes put these clauses in that just to remind everyone that other pieces of law exist. And I think that's exactly what the Member's trying to do now with zoning bylaws.

This one, I as far as I'm aware, we don't do this anywhere...

Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Member said, this is essentially the motion that was moved by committee. I supported it then, and I understand the Member's going to move to a couple motions that were already essentially moved by committee. I don't want to speak to the details of them. We spoke to them at committee, and the Minister responded. I guess I want to talk a bit larger about the process we're in now.

All of these motions and the motions we move, I don't think affect Aboriginal rights in any ways. I don't believe they go to the heart of what the technical working group tried to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was a bit of a back and forth there between the Minister of Finance and the Member from Twin Lakes about if or when the Affirmative Action Policy is being changed, and I think I kind of lost the plot there. Can the Minister just confirm whether the Affirmative Action Policy is going to be changed in the very short remaining life of this government? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Bill 83, Liquor Act, received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on March 30th, 2023, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review.

The standing committee held a public hearing with the Minister of Finance in Yellowknife on May 29th, 2023. The committee then hosted three public meetings in Inuvik, Norman Wells, and Yellowknife. The committee also received one written submission.

The committee heard a range of views from the public engagement not limited to alcohol addictions, bootlegging, community control of liquor, consumption...

Yeah, Madam Chair, I mean, I'm opposed to this, and I also just think it's very problematic what the Member's doing here. He keeps finding kind of weird hypothetical situations and saying there's no specific regulation making authority in an act that has one of the largest regulation making authority sections I've ever seen and, as the Member said, he's ever seen. And if this is how we're going to interpret legislation, it's highly problematic because most acts don't say oh, and you can make regulations in relation to this plan for the timelines of it, the ability to amend it, where it's...

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. We've had this discussion lots in committee on a number of bills. I guess if it was up to me, I don't think I would legislate any annual report in any piece of legislation. We see that they are moving. We see that often you want different things. Sometimes reporting changes over time. I just don't view what the content of a report is as something that's really the purview of the legislature. Government is pretty committed to publishing more and reporting on far more. We just have added a lot of these clauses, it will cost a lot of government, and I just think...