Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Mary Neyelle was March 22nd, 1934, at traditional Dene Camp at Fish Lake near Wrigley, Northwest Territories. She passed away on March 30th, 2021.

Mary was 86 years old. Mary and her late husband, Edward, had nine children together. They adopted Camille later in their lives. She had 16 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. Mary had unconditional love for all her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

She was caring, passionate, loving, goodspirited, patient, great teacher, and an outstanding person and had a beautiful soul.

Mary...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Dylan Gabriel Boniface Cazon was a young man who blessed us with his kind spirit, generous heart, and his infectious smile. He was born on January 26, 1993, to loving parents, Gilbert and Mary Jane Cazon, and was the brother of Bianca, Shannon, and Chantel. He was known to his nieces and nephews as "Uncle Pickles." Dylan shared his birthday with his late cousin, Daniel Allaire Jr.

Dylan took pride in his family, whom he loved dearly, and cherished the friendships that he gained during his life. Dylan was a hunter, son, brother, uncle, nephew, cousin, friend, and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize one of our translators here, Mary Jane Cazon, from Fort Simpson. She does a great job, and I thank her very much for being here today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT Water Stewardship Strategy, guided by the Aboriginal Steering Committee, represents a shared path forward for water stewardship and preservation with NWT residents and water partners. Water partners such as Indigenous, federal, and territorial governments; non-government organizations; research institutions and universities; regulatory boards; communities; and industry work together under the strategy, to ensure our water remains clean and safe for future generations.

The success of the water strategy is based on four main areas that require concentrated efforts...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document: "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 641-19(2): Hunters and Trappers Disaster Compensation." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Caribou have sustained generations of Northerners across the Northwest Territories. They are deeply tied to the NWT's society and culture. Communities have always relied on them for food, hides, and traditional practices, but today, some herds have seen major declines. They continue to face challenges, including climate change, habitat change, predators, and human activity. Illegal and disrespectful hunting practices are also real concerns.

Our government continues to work with Indigenous governments and organizations, and other co-management partners, to put rules in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the important work of Dr. David Schindler, who was an influential contributor to the NWT water policies. On March 4th, Dr. Schindler passed away at the age of 80. He was the leading Canadian water scientist who was instrumental in building our underlying knowledge of the effects that acid rain, climate change, long-range atmospheric transport of contaminants, and oil sands have on Canadian lakes and rivers. Dr. Schindler had a keen respect for the NWT. In a 2015 Globe and Mail article he wrote that "the water sources of the Northwest...

Key habitat is identified through a collaborative process with our Indigenous governments and organizations, and it helps us identify key areas that could be considered for habitat protection under the wildlife act. ENR has a series of workshops with partners to identify and prioritize areas of protection, and we are completing input from our partners and will collaboratively work on the plan to clarify key areas to be considered for habitat protection. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will try to keep my Minister's statement short on this answer here, but we want to make sure we get that detail and that information out there. The framework was applied against the proposed Slave Geological Province road. A technical package was supported with the Bathurst caribou range plan, and yes, we will be able to provide is to SCEDE.

ENR will finalize the framework by this summer. A draft framework has provided guidance to a pilot project that was done in collaboration with our industry partner, Aurora Geosciences. Because of COVID, we had to do a desktop exercise. The outcome of the project was the need for an operational guidance document, and we are working on developing that with Aurora Geosciences. We plan to test this operational document this summer.