Jay Macdonald

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, devolution was a delegation of administration and control of Crown land from the federal government to the GNWT. Land administered by the GNWT is not titled to the GNWT but titled to the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, and that is federally appointed. Also, the GNWT is an arm of the Crown. A municipal government is not. And the devolution of administration and control authorities is not something the GNWT can further devolve. And I just wanted to point out as well that plans of survey are a functional requirement of the land title system, and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I think I've said this many times. My goal here is to have the Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations come forward with paths forward that work for everyone. And my goal at the end of the day is to have a zero-dollar fee attached to this. I think, you know, in the interim, we have the ability to move down to a nominal fee, which is as low as we can go, down to a dollar within the legislation. And I think that's our interim target as we work together collaboratively to find a solution to this once and for all and get that fee down to zero...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. I know this has come up a number of times on the floor of this House, and I'm very happy to speak to it. It's certainly one of my more passionate areas that I'm trying to advance.

So to date, we have -- you know, we've proposed an amendment to the NWT land regulations to reduce the rent rate down to a dollar. We're currently working with the Intergovernmental Council Secretariat and Indigenous governments on this process. As recently as a week or two ago, there was a meeting of the technical working group where GCC took part...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the process to determine if a company is an assignment or not is one that would require me to make an interpretation of something that I don't feel I'm comfortable with doing on the floor, as I also wear the hat as attorney general, and this is a legal interpretation, and I would not be able to answer that question at this time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ECC has a dedicated senior land administrator for land transfers and given the demand for land, ECC is increasing its capacity in this area to support this important work. And I also wanted to mention that -- and I didn't mention in my first two answers, but consultation is a big part of this as well. We do have a consultation requirement in this process that I was remiss in not mentioning earlier. You know, this is consistent with the government -- our mandate to support land for housing, and I think we're working toward that. And prioritizing all land...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, amendments to the Land Titles Act are not being considered by the Department of Justice for the remainder of this Assembly; however, we are working at the department and pursuing amendments to the Land Titles Act for the 21st Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know this is going to be hard for the Member to hear. You know, I can't commit to a timeline because I really have to respect the collaborative protocol that guides this work. And, you know, it's recognized of value in achieving this work, but we can only get there through a collaborative process that ensures that we're respecting all parties, and there's not always necessarily perfect alignment amongst -- we have a number of Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations at the table as we go through this work and, you know, we want to ensure that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. Certainly, yeah, I can feel the sentiment that, you know, $80 a day does not seem like an adequate level of compensation for a person to give up their time and, you know, it's a tremendous sacrifice not only from a financial perspective, depending on sort of what your employment opportunities are like. Certainly willing to take that back and have a conversation with the department about what that could potentially look like. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, once again, I think this is really an all of government approach required here. Like I said earlier, you know, I've gone to many of the small communities, met with many of the leaders across the Northwest Territories on this exact issue, and I've heard many of the concerns that the Member has also raised around communities, you know, having specific needs. And I think as we look at this holistically and from the big picture, we need to continue that conversation with the communities to help them to identify potential funding sources and certainly optimistic...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly feel for the Member and the impacts that her community and many communities are facing across the Northwest Territories. You know, our government has taken many steps to date, and we have many steps coming forward as we progress with different pieces of legislation, the Trespass Act, the Civil Forfeiture Act, the SCAN legislation, are tools that are on the landscape that will help support communities. I have been engaging with small communities, getting feedback and response from those communities, to address what their immediate needs are and...