Shane Thompson

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Environmental Rights Act Annual Report 20222023; and, the NWT Surface Rights Board Annual Work Plan and Budget (Core Funding) for 20232024. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in the House to talk about the village of Fort Simpson's deputy fire chief, Pat Rowe, who retired from the volunteer fire department after 40 plus years of service. Upon returning home from his tour with the army, Pat joined the department in the 1980s. As he said, it was a natural fit, especially after being trained to fight fires in the Armed Forces. As well, it was his way to give back to the community. As he has been quoted in several news articles, it's a job that needs to be done; I just happen to have enough training to make a difference. That's a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was hoping that we would have been in a position to have a lottery or ballot draw during the life of this Assembly. However, there are complex issues related to the issuance of new leases in this area that remains unresolved. It is important that we take the time to discuss and make progress on these issues before we conduct another ballot draw. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. I think I'm going to give the same answers the Minister of Lands used to give. So we're working with the IGC process. We're working with our Indigenous government. And so it is a process that we need to respect, and it's going to take a little bit of time but we're trying to make sure we get it right. And so, again, what I'm hoping is to have it done but we still need to respect the IGC process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Disaster Assistance Policy is a governmentfunded assistance program that may be implemented after a widespread disaster to ensure essential community functions and cover the essential basic needs of residents and businesses. Events affecting a single sector or property are not widespread, nor do they impact essential community functions.

The Disaster Assistance Policy is not an insurance program or a compensation program to recover all losses or to be applied to events affecting single properties. Property owners have a responsibility to protect their...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, disasterprone areas are those that are identified as susceptible to certain risk. For example, flood risk mapping identifies area that are increased risk of flooding. MACA does not keep account of residents living in a disasterprone area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can advise you that Alberta has asked we keep the key knowledge gap reports in our review confidential at the time while they complete their analysis. Noting that transparency is our interest, we've asked Alberta when they will be making the reports public as well as how they will be dealing with our comments. As I mentioned, we will also continue to advocate that Alberta engages and consults with NWT Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations as well as the public on the development of regulations. And I can honestly tell you, Mr. Speaker, I've...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since the spill and seepage were reported, Imperial Oil has been providing regular updates to the GNWT on its mitigation and redemption work. The Government of Alberta has undertaken monitoring near the spill and has not found evidence the drinking water sources in Lake Athabasca have been affected.

I met with the Alberta Minister of Environment and Protected Areas in April. The Minister agreed to notify the GNWT on any spills as soon as Alberta is aware of the spills as agreed in our transboundary agreement. The federal Department of Environment and Climate...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The first transition of overhead and crew have already occurred and allowed firefighters to have some much time needed off. Overhead and crews from around the territory serve as the original responders and 24 extra firefighters from across the NWT have been hired and are assisting.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before I answer that question, I have to thank the Member from Hay River South, Hay River North, the Deh Cho, as well as Chief Martel and her council and Mayor Jameson and her council. They showed strong leadership. There was a number of volunteers that helped here in various other communities. So, again, I thank them very much for this.

In regards to the questions, given preseason forecasting for high conditions in the southern NWT this summer, the GNWT took a number of actions to be prepared for an earlier and challenging fire season. We brought on more...