R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I can say that I have not put my mind to having a single GNWT consultation team that would travel around and do all different types of consultation, but I understand what the Member's talking about, the consultation burden that Indigenous governments and communities outside of -- especially outside of Yellowknife and the regional centres feel. So EIA's role in that is that we do speak with the Indigenous governments and we talk to them about the consultation burden and if they're experiencing it. And so if we learn that this community is, you know, seeing lots of these...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I think there is an opportunity to look at the direction that is provided to the officials at that table on the GNWT side. I think government sort of moves at a certain pace, but there's clearly a desire from the Assembly, and I know from Cabinet, to move more quickly on things. And I think that might fall under the category of providing more leadership. Because the Member's right, we do have more resources. You know, we've -- so, I am trying to avoid talking about the GNWT as being the boss at the table and being able to push things through against the wishes of...

Thank you. And so the IGC is set up through the NWT intergovernmental agreement on lands and resource management through the devolution agreement, so that's sort of the primary framework. In terms of GNWT-specific policy documents, direction, we do have the legislative development protocol on how we work with Indigenous governments. But if the Member is talking about, on a specific issue, how do -- what direction is given to advance a specific issue or a specific file, well, that would be then what's the issue, what's the file. If there's political direction or a desire on Cabinet's part to...

Thank you. So from what I understand, the GNWT has responsibilities over lands and resources, and there's a desire on behalf of Canada to have the partner who has that responsibility and that awareness of the situation at the table. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I want to be careful not to try to -- or be seen as negotiating on the floor of the House. Like those types of discussions need to happen at the negotiation table. But there are disagreements about -- or not disagreements. There is differences of opinion on some significant issues related to land and wildlife and some of these things. But that being said, we are making progress on those and there is progress in other areas as well. The Dehcho are very committed to advancing this, and so are we. And so we're seeing progress. As I've said, I've had a number of...

I do.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize some pages that we've had here from Hay River for the week. Natalie Boucher from Hay River North, as well as Kennedy Bolt and Malikai Beaulieu from Hay River South. We're always happy to have the youth in the chamber, and I hope they learned something. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So there is no plan currently to make that change. We have not heard that there are workload issues that would require additional time. I understand what the Member is saying, though, that maybe some times of day are less convenient for some residents than other times of day. But given the workload, the plan is to continue forward as a part-time position. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And the Member has raised this a number of times with me, and I appreciate his enthusiasm for the work. We do have a regional director in the community right now under EIA, but in this activity here, Office of the Secretary of Cabinet, there's actually only two employees. There's a deputy minister and the executive assistant for the deputy minister. So from this budget here, we would not be looking at doing that. That being said, EIA has the GSOs, the government service officers, which are stationed all over the territory and we have a regional director, and so we're --...

The monument. Thank you, Mr. Chair.