Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm going to actually read my notes here. So you'll get a longwinded answer here. Mr. Speaker, ENR has worked closely with Indigenous governments and other comanagement partners to protect key habitats for the Bathurst herd. The collaborative development Bathurst caribou range plan supports habitat conservation areas of important caribou habitat, as well as using the mobile caribou conservation measures commonly known as MCCM in the core Bathurst area. ENR provides funding and support to Indigenous governments to identify important Bathurst caribou habitat, which...

Thank you. I am speaking as the MLA for the Nahendeh here and not the Government of the Northwest Territories. So in the last Assembly, my colleague from Frame Lake talked about what happened to us where we said we'll do two years of zero and then move on from that, the message was wrong. We it said that, you know, the negotiations, we're going to go this way. And we shouldn't be sending that message. I also don't agree with the fact that if we deal with the cost of living which, you know, my colleague from Hay River North says, you know, there was independent commission, they said that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Municipal and Community Affairs staff have been and continue to communicate and meet with residents of Paradise Gardens and the Riverview Drive as assess their options. Given that the sensitivity and confidential nature of the financial consideration of these discussions with individuals, this is normally an operational matter that's better addressed by residents with Municipal and Community Affairs directly. However, in saying this, I've received a number of letters from residents in those two locations, and as well with numerous conversations with the MLA...

Sorry, Madam Chair. On my left is Jennifer Young, director of corporate affairs. To my right close to me is Justin Hazenberg, director of public safety. On my far right is Ian Rennie, a drafter for the Department of Justice. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the GNWT Disaster Assistance Policy does not have a provision for buyouts but there is existing provisions that achieve similar results. The decision on whether to rebuild in the same location or a different location is one that is made by the property owner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present Bill 67, An Act to Amend the Fire Prevention Act. The purpose of Bill 67 is to improve regulatory functions by creating a more authoritative plan review process that includes a formal avenue of appeal for plan review decisions. The bill also includes an exclusion of liability clause which protects statutory actors for actions or omissions done in good faith in the course of their duties.

In addition to these substantive amendments, this bill makes several housekeeping amendments to genderneutralize language and fix nonsubstantive grammatical errors...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in May 2022 our government announced the merger of the Departments of Lands and Environment and Natural Resources. Postdevolution, the merger is an important step to evolve the resource management, regulatory, and security responsibilities that are linked but currently split between the two departments.

Mr. Speaker, we have been hard at work since May 2022. Leadership in both departments have worked with staff to develop the merger organization structure for the new department. In midNovember 2022, the highlevel organization design was approved; and, on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so rightsbased cabins, we're working on that. We're trying to put that to the side. We're trying to be able to identify some of the things. Some of the work that's being done is exactly what the Member is asking for. So we're working on this, trying to get this resolved. We're working with Indigenous governments to come up with a definition with what's a rightsbased cabin. Not the GNWT, with the Indigenous governments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And maybe I misspoke. What I said was we're part of the process. We engage. We provide feedback to it. We're not involved in the final decisionmaking. No other jurisdiction Nunavut doesn't have that with us when we deal with our diamond mines and that there. So we do engage, and we work with them there.

I can tell you right now I'm committed to protect the waters in the NWT. As I said to the previous Member from Deh Cho, as soon as we found out this was happening, we did a Minister's statement; we wrote letters; we've had contact with both the federal and the Alberta...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the transboundary water agreement remains one of the best of its kind. The agreement prioritizes NWT interests to identify throughout the years of engagement on the NWT water strategy and guidance from Indigenous steering committees. For example, it includes measures to protect aquatic ecosystems' integrity and ensures Indigenous knowledge is considered in decisionmaking. These agreements are cooperative and respected decisionmaking authority of each jurisdiction.

There is no reason to renegotiate the agreement. In fact, the agreement gives us the tools to...