Jay Macdonald

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I stand today to highlight one of the most significant achievements of 2024: The finalization of the Our Land for the Future Agreement, formerly called the NWT Project Finance for Permanence Agreement.

This landmark initiative is a monumental achievement for Indigenous peoples in the Northwest Territories, fostering Indigenous-led conservation, stewardship, and economic development. The GNWT had the honour of supporting this transformative initiative in partnership with 23 Indigenous governments, the Government of Canada, and private donors. Through the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a topic that's close to my heart, ensuring that we are engaging with our youth across the NWT. I have grandchildren that are going to be coming along here into this environment soon and, you know, I'm encouraged by the participation that we had, and we had the NWT Climate Change Youth Council participate in a forum in October, Ecology North facilitated discussions, with a total of 190 students here in Yellowknife. MLA Morgan and myself are planning an engagement with high school students later in the month here in Yellowknife to discuss the issue...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you very much to the Member for the question. As she said, there was a tremendous amount of engagement on this topic, and we extended the timeframe and continued to accept long-form submissions well into January. You know, throughout the process, we had 128 participants at a climate change advisory group gathering. We engaged with Indigenous governments, organizations, community governments, youth, researchers, land users, industries, other partners. We had 44 residents engaged through a public engagement on the website, and two Indigenous governments and six...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department does work collaboratively with other agencies across the NWT, and we are also part of the NWT/Nunavut spill working group. So on many of these instances where we have these types of clean-ups that are required, you know, as a department we take our resources, we will reach out to the appropriate lead agency, which would depend depending on sort of the circumstance of the incident. And this event would likely fall under the federal government, and we're certainly willing to have the conversation with the Member's community and with the...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Environment and Climate Change is also responsible for coordinating the 24-hour NWT/Nunavut Spill Line, and this is certainly a vehicle or an opportunity for communities or the general public to identify potential spills. And, you know, if you look at the definition of what is an environmental contamination, within the definition, it says that it's an unplanned release of a potential product that could harm the environment. So if there are these specific locations out on the landscape or in lakes or on our countryside, they can be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you much to the Member for the question. You know, as we talk about environmental liabilities -- and this certainly, from the description, sounds like an environmental liability of such in the North -- you know, there are many instances where these types of things have happened in the past that haven't been addressed and as we look forward to ways to address these, you know, it's certainly important that we work with all of our counterparts, including the federal government.

As to this specific instance, the Department of Environment and Climate Change has...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now ECC is in the planning stages with the IGCS technical working group to advance the amendments to the targeted amendments to the water regulations, and it certainly is an area of high priority. We certainly, you know, want this to happen very, very quickly, and it is a process that will happen outside in the Mackenzie Valley operational dialogue, but we are definitely pushing forward to get that work done as quickly as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, the issue around water regulations has certainly been a topic of much conversation over the past number of months since the last sitting, and I'm very happy to stand here today and, you know, report to this House that right now, ECC has received approval from Cabinet and the IGCS to proceed with the appraised approach to amend the Waters Act and the water regulations with Phase 1 be the targeted approach to making amendments that were suggested by the land and water board, some of the Indigenous governments and the Chamber of Mines. We're currently in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently, we're -- like I said earlier, we're in the planning stages, and we are targeting to have a more concrete plan available in the spring that we'll be able to deliver at the next meeting of the Mackenzie Valley operational dialogue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: NWT State of the Conservation Network 2024. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.