Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe that is all I have for this section right now. Thank you.
Thank you. Is there any further questions? I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I wanted to ask about mobile barren-ground caribou conservation measures. I know that features in the business plan as one of the priorities, and there's a goal of coming up with mechanisms for offsetting and compensation when barren-ground caribou habitat is damaged or destroyed. Can the Minister give us an update on when we will see what -- like, the plans or the, you know, actions in terms of mobile barren-ground caribou conservation, especially as we've seen results of surveys in the last couple of months that have been increasingly worrisome in terms of the state of barren-ground caribou. 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 yes, a number of recent surveys have shown some declines in barren-ground caribou populations. So there's a number of management committees amongst a number of different groups - the GWNT, federal government, Indigenous governments. And they've been meeting over the past several weeks to discuss actions and mechanisms that could be instituted to help with the challenges that we're experiencing with populations.
In terms of some of the pieces that we're doing in terms of the winter road, the winter road is expected to open this Saturday. We have officers that have already moved up, and we are reestablishing the Gordon Lake check station. And we're going to be working with a number of Indigenous governments and guardians programs to have a presence in the area to make sure that we have respect for harvesting this winter season. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member for the Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So my understanding was that the previous monitoring and management plans for barren-ground caribou were being evaluated, you know, for how effective they were or what should be done in terms of new management and monitoring plans going forward. Has there been a report yet in terms of what is the conclusion of the evaluation of those previous monitoring and management plans, or what can we expect? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Wek'eezhii Renewable Resources Board approved an extension of current management actions of the Bathurst until July of 2027. And based on that request came from ECC and the Tlicho government, the extension allows for community engagement prior to the development of the new joint management proposal. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from the Yellowknife North.
Okay. I guess we will stay tuned in terms of the results of those consultations. I do think it is quite urgent that we really look hard at whether what we've been doing so far has been working or not. And, clearly, the barren-ground caribou herds are still suffering so we need to do something different. So I am looking forward to seeing some outcomes in terms of what are we going to do different going forward.
I also wanted to touch upon community-based monitoring. I don't know if there's a specific line for it, but certainly in the business plan it talks about goals in terms of jobs for community-based monitoring programs. And obviously this is important not just for employment and the economy, but just overall stewardship of the land and the environment. And so over the last few years, have we been seeing increases in the amount of community-based monitors or decreases? What has participation rates been like in the community-based monitoring program? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, Mr. Chair, I think the uptake in the community-based monitoring over the last number of years has been improving and certainly from a department perspective, we have had a lot of engagement talking to our Indigenous partners and communities in looking at ways to interact with the guardian programs and how we can have the guardians work with our officers on the land to ensure that we're coming forward with a unified message. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am curious to know with the uptick in guardian programs, are we seeing decreases in the amount of community-based monitors being hired for GNWT-specific programs? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I will speak briefly, and then I will pass it to the deputy minister. But Our Land for the Future funding will provide an opportunity to hire more community-based monitoring. That's part of the overall work plan. So that's, I think, a positive going forward. But I will pass to the deputy minister.
Thank you. I will go to the deputy minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, you know, it's very community-specific. You know, we have some community-based monitors that have been going out and doing the sampling for a long time, and we're seeing some areas where that's changing. So it's a bit fluid. We are expecting, as the Minister mentioned, with the OLF and, you know, third party funding for Indigenous guardians programs, that we will see more monitoring out on the land and, you know, want to work together on how we can incorporate all the information that's collected through those different programs. So we expect that the presence will grow, and with the dollars through the OLF that more information will be collected. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So looking at the business plan, it lists that we're trying to measure the number of residents being hired for these kinds of community-based monitoring programs, but we don't have any specific targets there. We're just saying, just increase community capacity or provide jobs. And so then when it lists progress to date, we just kind of state what we're doing, but we don't know if it's getting better, it's getting worse, are we meeting targets, because we don't really have specific targets. Does ECC plan to establish specific targets? I understand it might be challenging if things are fluid, especially with other programs like the guardian program starting up. But when can we expect to actually set sort of meaningful or realistic targets to know whether we're on track for community-based monitoring programs or not? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will pass to the deputy minister.
I will go to the deputy minister.
Yeah, thanks, Mr. Chair. You know, in the business plan, you know, it speaks to the action that we want to do to meet the mandate commitment of increasing community capacity and training and hiring residents. So, you know, our measure is the number, and that's what we've put in the plan. And, you know, the progress to date in terms of the community-based monitoring program has been a total of 32 monitors. So that is sort of the gauge on which we hope to increase and grow moving forward. And, again, this could be met either through our own programs, or it could be new programs and working together. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Great, thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that, and I will keep an eye going forward on how that program is doing because I did formerly do some work with some community-based monitors and it was, I think, inspiring for everyone involved in terms of people gaining the skills to gain new employment but also feel more confident in doing that kind of work, being on the land, taking care of the land, and working with both traditional knowledge experts and scientists. And so I think it's a really promising area going forward for jobs in our communities and hope that we can continue to expand. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. Colleagues, we're going to take a 30-minute break, and we'll resume in 30 minutes. Thank you.
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Welcome back, everybody. We're ready to go again. I am going to continue on to page 86. Is there any further questions from Members? Seeing none, please turn to page 86.
Environment and Climate Change, environmental management, monitoring, and climate change, $21,877,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to the policy and strategic planning, beginning on page 89 with information items on page 191 and to 93 -- sorry, 91 to 93. I am going to go to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I believe that ECC is projecting aN approximately $462,000 decrease for policy legislation, evaluation, and communications. Can the Minister speak to the substantiation behind that reduction? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will pass to the director.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the director.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That was a reduction of one position and a sunset of two positions under the MVRMA. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Appreciate that detail. I do have a question about the regulatory initiatives that was not touched on earlier by my colleagues. Specifically, I am interested in the Waste Reduction and Resource Recovery Act regulations. Previously, ECC committed to implementing three to five new waste reduction or diversion programs by 2028, and I am curious if this regulatory project is not on the business plan priorities, whether or not this commitment will be accomplished. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, currently, that initiative is not on our priority list. It would be something that would be completed in the next government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.
So just to be very clear, the department expects that those regulations will be passed by 2028? Thank you.
Thank you. I am going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. 2028 -- yeah, I will pass that to the deputy minister. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the deputy minister.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. In terms of the Waste Reduction Resource Recovery Act regulations, so that was passed in the 19th Assembly, so a prioritization exercise was recently done. This piece of legislation is not on that listing, and so it is something that we'd be looking to accomplish in the next government. We're doing some internal work right now to be ready for the next government to be able to move that forward. 2028 would be early in the next government, so that may be difficult to accomplish in that timeframe, but it is something that we feel could be accomplished in the next Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Under conservation planning and sustainable livelihoods, there was quite a large difference between the 2025-2026 Mains and the revised estimates, and now in this proposed 2026-2027 Main Estimates, there is a slight reduction to that line item. Can the Minister please explain that variation. It's quite a big swing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
