Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, we're in the process of the Alberta government and Canada government is working to develop an arrangement where the bilateral they'll have the engagement. We've reached out to both the federal government and the Alberta government and said we need to be engaged; we need to be part of this process. I've sent a letter to Minister Savage and Minister Guilbeault, and I just recently sent another one there, again stressing the importance of us to be part of anything that's moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, several meetings have been taking place with the Government of Alberta and senior representatives at Imperial Oil to receive the most updated information about the monitoring. I have also met with Minister Savage, the Alberta minister of environment and protected areas on this issue.

We have been informed that the water quality results have been stable and show no impact to downstream waterways or drinking water. Environment and Climate Change Canada's Fisheries Act direction was issued to prevent potential impact to fish not because impacts were detected...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have the afterschool physical activity program that the Member talks about. That there goes to the schools and communities depending on who organizes the afterschool programs. What the Member is talking about is regional events, and that was done and organized by the Beaufort Delta sport recreation Beaufort Delta Sahtu Recreation Association. Unfortunately, that organization defaulted. It's now talking to some of the leaders in the communities, especially the rec coordinators are trying to reactivate that, and that there does help develop the swim...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we give about $1.561 million to TSOs to provide opportunities for youth and that. For the BDSRA, I believe it was $250,000 we talked about it in the last sitting here. But I'll have to get back to the Member for the confirmation of that number. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in May 2022 our government announced the merger of the Departments of Lands and Environment and Natural Resources. Postdevolution, the merger is an important step to evolve the resource management, regulatory, and security responsibilities that are linked but currently split between the two departments.

Mr. Speaker, we have been hard at work since May 2022. Leadership in both departments have worked with staff to develop the merger organization structure for the new department. In midNovember 2022, the highlevel organization design was approved; and, on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so rightsbased cabins, we're working on that. We're trying to put that to the side. We're trying to be able to identify some of the things. Some of the work that's being done is exactly what the Member is asking for. So we're working on this, trying to get this resolved. We're working with Indigenous governments to come up with a definition with what's a rightsbased cabin. Not the GNWT, with the Indigenous governments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And maybe I misspoke. What I said was we're part of the process. We engage. We provide feedback to it. We're not involved in the final decisionmaking. No other jurisdiction Nunavut doesn't have that with us when we deal with our diamond mines and that there. So we do engage, and we work with them there.

I can tell you right now I'm committed to protect the waters in the NWT. As I said to the previous Member from Deh Cho, as soon as we found out this was happening, we did a Minister's statement; we wrote letters; we've had contact with both the federal and the Alberta...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the transboundary water agreement remains one of the best of its kind. The agreement prioritizes NWT interests to identify throughout the years of engagement on the NWT water strategy and guidance from Indigenous steering committees. For example, it includes measures to protect aquatic ecosystems' integrity and ensures Indigenous knowledge is considered in decisionmaking. These agreements are cooperative and respected decisionmaking authority of each jurisdiction.

There is no reason to renegotiate the agreement. In fact, the agreement gives us the tools to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you firsthand that the Indigenous governments reach out to me on a constant basis, especially about the tar sands and this issue. And it's been an issue previously. So I've had a number of conversations with them. I've been down to Fort Smith and met with the Indigenous leaderships there. I've had conversations with other leaders in the Northwest Territories about that. So the first and foremost thing is right now with the disaster that had happened in with the seepage and of 5.3 million litres of tailings released into the environment, I can...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, he did give those questions and I can tell you I just answered your question one at a time so I still have other answers for the information that you asked.

So the Government of Alberta is currently conducting assessments and scientific studies to fill knowledge gaps provided to decide on whether to develop regulations that would allow the release of treated tailing water. Alberta has agreed to give us significant time to critically review the reports and discuss our concerns with them before they make a decision to develop regulatory guidance.

The GNWT has received...