Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, overall, since we're looking at corporate management overall, I wonder if the Minister can give any insights into whether the merger between lands and ENR several years ago actually resulted in any efficiencies in terms of reduction of positions overall between the two departments since the merger. I know it's been a number of years now. I don't know if the Minister has any data on that or could commit to get back to us with more information. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there were some reductions in positions. I will pass to the deputy minister for some detail. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Deputy minister, Mr. Chair.
Oh, I am sorry. Yeah, deputy minister.
Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So there were some efficiencies through the optimization exercise between the Department of Lands and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources that were realized, and there are some that are still occurring. For example, one of the positions that is slated for reduction this upcoming year is that there was an additional senior advisor position to the deputy minister, so that position is being eliminated. So there is -- still working through that process, and -- but there has been some optimization through that exercise. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wonder if the Minister could commit to get back to me with some specific numbers in terms of overall positions that have been reduced in the creation of efficiency. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, happy to provide that information to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you. I also wanted to ask -- I know in the business plan the 2025 environmental audit is mentioned. It was tabled just last October, and many of those recommendations remain only partially implemented or outstanding. So in the business plan, it identifies that one of the priorities is to move forward with implementing the recommendations in that audit. Do we see any money slated in this budget to make sure that that implementation can take place? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I am going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the specific money that's allocated to the environmental audit recommendations is -- some of it is contained in the *SIMF funding, and other amounts are spread across the different areas within the department. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to ask a specific question about the work on accepted waste sites. It was included in the information item in the cost-shared agreements, but I figure this might be as good a time as any to ask about it.
So it looks like the funding for accepted waste sites that was coming from the federal government has sunset now, or it's sunsetting in March 31st, 2026, and it was to conduct pre-remediation work on six sites, many of which -- or some are in my riding. The Crestaurum, Ptarmigan, Tin, Rod, Burwash, and Tom mines. And so given that that funding is sunsetting, what has been accomplished so far with that federal funding? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, since 2023, we've completed extensive environmental, geological, geotechnical, architectural, and risk assessments on field programs as phase one for all six of the sites. Draft remedial options analysis are now complete for each of the sites, and those outline the feasibility remediation options and identify site hazards and evaluate the options against safety, land use, technical feasibility, and socio-economic factors and costs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So that is pre-remediation work, but there's still a lot of actual remediation work to be done and this funding is running out. So what is the next step, then? How do we move forward with remediation on these sites? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the remedial option analysis will form the technical foundation for negotiations with Canada on the actual remediation responsibilities and what that potential future funding could look for, as well as inform the regulatory process. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. And so is that -- has that negotiation with Canada begun, then? Or what's the timeline for that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we're completing engagement on those plans and plan to start negotiations with Canada early in the next fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the Minister. That is helpful to know.
I just finally wanted to touch on transboundary waters. In the last fiscal year, there was a bit of a jump or a spike in spending, both for the Alberta-Northwest Territories transboundary waters and the Yukon-NWT transboundary waters, and it looks like this year we're back to the sort of standard baseline of what we're spending. Can the Minister explain what was accomplished on transboundary water issues last fiscal year to -- in terms of what extra money was spent and why. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will pass to the deputy minister.
Thank you. I will go to the deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So under those agreements, the work that we do year to year is really sort of gaining knowledge and monitoring the health of the aquatic ecosystem in those shared watersheds, and we work with a number of Indigenous governments on that work. You know, there's a number of water monitoring programs. There's fish studies. There's annual reporting. There's some consultant contracting. So in terms of a specific breakdown of some of the activities and details that we did, we would have to follow up with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from the Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, I mean, as far as I can see, concerns about transboundary water issues are only heating up. They're not -- concerns aren't going down. So are we planning to -- why would we plan to spend less than last year on transboundary water issues? What assurance do we have that we can sort of go back to the lower baseline amount? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will pass to the deputy minister.
Thank you. I will go to the deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, you know, the focus and a lot of the concerns that have been raised in terms of transboundary water, in particular with Alberta, has been with oil sands mine water and releases of oil sands mine water. And so, you know, that's our focus in terms of next year. We're continuing to do the monitoring programs, and we have reporting requirements and sort of additional costs from time to time there. We're also doing some work, next year, in terms of really looking at that issue. We've done a bunch of work already on that, and those were additional costs that we had, and we're now sort of in conversations both with Alberta and with the Government of Canada because there's responsibilities under the Fisheries Act for releases of mine water that we can utilize the work that we had previously done and the costs that we had previously had in conversations that we can -- we'll have with those governments next year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
I will leave it there for now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am looking at the Deh Cho conservation protected area. Are we in that area? How close are we to completion of this agreement? I mean, it looks like it's expiring. What happens; what will be the result of this agreement? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could we get clarification on what agreement the Member is referring to? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will go back to the Member from Deh Cho.
thank you, Mr. Chair. Deh Cho conservation protected area.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, ECC remains ready to support the Deh Cho communities in advancing work on their conservation planning. In June 2024, ECC presented the Deh Cho Protected Area Planning Committee on the NWT tool for protecting land, including establishment of the Territorial Protected Area under the Protected Area Act, and we are waiting for Indigenous governments and communities in the Deh Cho to decide on how they wish to proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Deh Cho Member.
