Diane Archie served as the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake in the 19th Legislative Assembly. An Inuvialuit Beneficiary, she commenced her professional career with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC) as a Youth Worker.She advanced into progressively senior positions, including Assistant Comptroller, Executive Director of Community Development, Chief Negotiator, and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. She subsequently undertook the role of self‑government negotiator, representing the Inuvialuit at regional, territorial, and national forums.
Her expertise was further broadened through a secondment to British Petroleum, where she gained knowledge in offshore oil and gas development and licensing requirements. Raised in Aklavik, Northwest Territories, she was custom adopted by her grandparents and grew up immersed in a traditional Inuvialuit lifestyle, moving seasonally between camps under the guidance of her Daduck and Nannuk.
Her educational achievements include completion of Grade 12 at Grollier Hall in Inuvik, a Business Management Diploma from Arctic College, a Bachelor of Management degree, and a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies.
In public service, Ms. Archie was elected as the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake in the 19th Legislative Assembly, during which time she resided in Inuvik. She was appointed to Cabinet by Premier Caroline Cochrane, serving as Deputy Premier, Minister of Health and Social Services, Minister Responsible for Persons with Disabilities, and Minister Responsible for the Status of Women. In July 2020, she assumed responsibility for Seniors, and later that year, she continued as Deputy Premier while being named Minister of Infrastructure and Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Marine Transportation Services has been working closely with Transport Canada as well as Canadian Coast Guard. These relationships are key to ensuring that MTS can try and keep as close as possible to the current planning for the 2023 sailing season.
Mr. Speaker, as the Member is aware, I am looking forward to coming into the Inuvialuit settlement communities in the next couple months, to be able to visit the communities. It would also be a good opportunity for me to talk to some of the leadership about any questions or concerns they have about our...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to share a few updates with some of the work that's underway to get ready. Engineers have been brought back early to be able to perform routine maintenance, as well as reactivate the vessels in Cambridge Bay and Paulatuk. Engineers and other workers in Tuktoyaktuk are also preparing Nunakput for reactivation. Mr. Speaker, we are set on our targets for sailing season. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member from Thebacha is very concerned about her airport, and I respect that she's bringing forward this question to me because there was some confusion last week on the Fort Smith Airport.
I can confirm for the Member that the Fort Smith runway was always fully operational and it's able to accommodate all civilian and commercial aircrafts up to and including the Boeing 737, the Airbus 8320s, all in accordance with Transport Canada regulations. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Member for that question, just to clarify that, you know - and if there was...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're bringing some of the options to the board of directors meeting which is happening next month. That meeting will be able to determine some of the options and some of the federal funding that we need to apply for. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe I heard about four different questions in that. So I'm going to just add that this is an important project that we raised with the federal government in the context of funding.
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Infrastructure and Northwest Territories Power Corporation continue to assess the optimal project approach which will form a future federal funding application to the feds. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we've made improvements. We have our "lessons learned" report. The plan is for us, for our tugs to leave August 15th from Tuk and, you know, we hope to get the Inuvialuit settlement region communities by the end of August. That's our plan, Mr. Speaker. However having said that, we are faced with some challenges, challenges including the fire in Hay River for example. You know, that set us back ten days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct; we had a delay in shipping some of the goods to Sachs Harbour. We did that for the reason to prepare our sailing season for this year, so we had a pause, and now we're continuing to deliver some of these supplies back. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, and I wear both hats on as Minister of Infrastructure as well as Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Power Corporation. So, you know, on major projects like this, we do have a debrief at the end for some of our lessons learned. So I hear the Member's concerns, you know, going forward on some of these infrastructure projects, that we need to have these lessons learned, talk about some of the ways that we can improve major infrastructure projects. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the cost of the project, the total project was about $60 to $70 million, and I just want to note of that cost, Mr. Speaker, $39.9 million was secured through Investment Canada Investment Infrastructure Program, the ICIIP program. You know, it's a little not too early, but I mean we will be able to have a better indication once we get closer to cutting this ribbon together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I note that my attendance at this meeting was through the publicly by the press secretary through our weekly ministerial activities notice. That's where I provided notice, Mr. Speaker, that I will be attending this meeting. The government has established the advancement of the Slave Geological Province Corridor project as one of our three major strategic initiatives in our mandate, as there are potential linkages to these Slave Geological Province Corridor Project, and any potential for an allseason road and a deep water port in the western Nunavut. So...
