Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I will start and then I'd like to turn over to the deputy minister as well. So in short, the answer is yes, there's more drilling happening in the Northwest Territories right now than there has been in the last 10 years. So right now, there are -- and multiple projects are in Tlicho region as well, and this is in addition to the work that Tlicho government is doing with Fortescue.

So right now, there are multiple gold projects that have drills turning in and around the Slave Geological Province area and including in Tlicho area. So in Tlicho area...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, absolutely have a meeting set up with the chair of the IRC and this is definitely, I can assure the Member, on our agenda for conversations. And then in addition to that, Mr. Chair, at the end of March, we also have the Arctic Energy Resource Symposium that we participate in as well, and at that meeting we are also meeting with interested people who want to talk about our energy opportunities in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is other exploration happening in the territory. There's other drill projects happening in the territory, other advanced projects happening in the NWT as well, but the only mines who report to us for these types of statistics at this point, because they have their IBAs, are the diamond mines.

And as far as the Member's first question, in regards to providing information on procurement, I'd be happy to provide the Member with the information that we do receive from the diamond mines and definitely happy to share that. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the cost of doing business in the Northwest Territories certainly can be quite high, depending on what business somebody is starting up or opening. The cost of securing goods, we, you know, certainly are working on certain projects. For example, the Mackenzie Valley Highway in the Northwest Territories, acknowledging that air travel or traveling, you know, down through BC, up through the Yukon and up the Dempster to get back into the Northwest Territories, it certainly adds to the cost of doing business and the cost of living in the Northwest...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, on immigratenwt.ca, there is an employer-driven stream expression of interest points grid that's currently available. This points grid goes through all the different categories, what points are afforded and how. Because the major thing that we heard was an ask from the NWT -- whether it was employers or people participating in the program -- was transparency and fairness. And so we wanted to ensure that we were both publishing the different points that they would be graded against, the grid they would be used, and then within five days of them...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the answer is yes, Tlicho do have tourism licenses. A big example of that is Tlicho Adventures and Tlicho Investment Corporation has a number as well. I just don't have the overall number at my fingertips right now. But there are definitely examples.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

So, Mr. Chair, this work is still ongoing. There's another year left where results need to be brought in from this study that is being done and is being co-funded. For the Member's second question as to what this means for LNG and the territory, and so essentially carbon sequestration means that as you're extracting the LNG from the ground, you can take the carbon capture and essentially feed it into some of the rocks in the territory. So the work being done is to determine how much and how effective it is, and so what it could ultimately do is potentially lower...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the northern employment at the three diamond mines of 32.1 percent, that's NWT residents, and then Indigenous employment of NWT Indigenous persons at the mine was 16 percent.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in the interest of time I'd be happy to provide that to the Member in writing. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during incidents like this, it is incredibly important that everyone involved understand exactly what their role is and follow that process. I can report here that everybody followed protocol to a tee following this incident, and in dealing with this incident. That includes contact with the RCMP, that includes making sure that teachers responded how they needed to, that students responded how they needed to. And in this, there is regular contact between the department and the education bodies to ensure that if there is support that is required...