Jay Macdonald

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of different types of land within the Northwest Territories. We could be speaking of municipal land, private land, Indigenous land, or Commissioner's land, and each one of those designations have a slightly different process; however, the legal registering of those processes require that they are registered through the lands office and that typically requires assistance of counsel or -- yeah, I will leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 45, Civil Forfeiture Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are a number -- as I said, there are a number of different types of land that fall under different bodies, whether it's a municipality, the territorial government, or Commissioner's land or Indigenous land, and each of these policies, processes require input from the different associated governments. So to stand here and make a commitment to change policy based solely on a commitment in the House is not something I am prepared to do today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as the 2026 wildfire season approaches, I would like to provide an update on our government's continued investments in wildfire preparedness and resilience across the Northwest Territories. Building wildfire resilience means investing in our communities so our people can live safely with wildfire and be ready for emergencies.

Over the past year, the government has continued to support FireSmart projects and a wide range of community-based wildfire preparedness initiatives across the Northwest Territories. This work provides an important foundation for protecting our communities and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I cannot provide legal -- or advice or analysis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe I've said many times in this House that our approach to legislation in the 20th Assembly has been to take the priorities of this 20th Assembly and focus on those legislative initiatives that align with our priorities. Currently, there's no initiative being undertaken that directly relates to the issue that the Member is raising. If the 21st Assembly has this as one of their priorities, the Department of Justice would be happy to continue on the work in this area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I would say yes to that, Mr. Speaker. There will be an in-depth policy analysis and an engagement with the stakeholders will occur as we look at the potential amendments to the RTA in the 21st Assembly. And I will say, you know, this is something that we need to do it right, so we want to ensure that we're taking the time to do the pre-work so that when we go on to that level of work we're doing it right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think at this point, as we do not have any governing legislation in this area, I think certainly, you know, our ability to work with our communities, with our Indigenous partners, with our Indigenous organizations, and the GNWT across the NWT, you know, we're having conversations with those companies that are providing this service. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did commit to the Member that I would share the information that was available on this issue, and I will commit to the Member to follow up with the department. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in our contracting guidelines, there are very common clauses within our contract documents that address those types of questions and considerations, and they will very depending on the situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.