Shane Thompson

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, I give notice that on Tuesday, March 28th, 2023, I will present Bill 78, Waste Reduction and Resource Recovery Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as stated earlier, we have several processes underway working with Indigenous governments, including regulations for the Public Land Act. Until those processes are completed, the GNWT will continue to lease land in accordance with our Act and regulations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department regulates validation and pricing for all public lands. Leases are required where exclusive use of public land is required. Lease rents are charged to have exclusive usage. Indigenous people are encouraged to selfidentify with the Department of Lands that they are rightsbased land users and within their traditional area if they wish to maintain a camp or a cabin on public land without a tenure. Some Indigenous people prefer to maintain tenure for the benefit associated with such things as exclusive use, being able to sell the improvements and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the first thing is we made the commitment to do the facetoface meeting. That's the important part of it. She has also committed to sharing information on the seepage and spills moving forward. So we'll make sure we have a robust process in getting that information to us. They also agreed that the dispute resolution provision of our bilateral agreement is the right tool to resolve the matter and set a plan to avoid this kind of incident in the future so we're doing dispute mechanism. She has agreed to that. She's looking forward to enhancing the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can advise you that the Alberta Minister recognized that there was a failure to communicate on the issue. There was a lot of finger pointing through this whole process and I can tell you she just found out this February. So she was similar into the same boat as us there. We talked about working together to improve how we implement the transboundary agreement. Again, it's about the wording and that so we've made that commitment to do that. And we've also committed to have a facetoface meeting sometime in April, whether it's the 13th or 18th. We're just...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize one of the interpreters Mary Jane Cazon, a resident from Fort Simpson. She does a great job, and I thank her for that.

I guess I'm going to jump on the bandwagon here and recognize Michael McLeod, former boss. He was my Minister way back when, so I thank him. I consider him a friend, mentor, and a sounding board in the work that we do for residents of the Northwest Territories. As well to Jackson Lafferty, a friend, mentor, colleague, sounding board, and now he's the grand chief. So welcome to our Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member from YK South, that Bill 74, Forest Act, be read for the second time.

I wish to advise the House that Bill 74, Forest Act, has been drafted under the Intergovernmental Council Legislative Development Protocol which sets out a collaborative process of development of legislation with respect to lands and resources between Intergovernmental Council, Indigenous governments, and the lands and resource department of the Government of the Northwest Territories.

This bill repeals the Forest Management Act and the Forest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as this motion contains the recommendations to the government, Cabinet will be abstaining. We look forward to reviewing the recommendation and providing a full response within 120 days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. And, again, I appreciate the Member's passion on this, and we've had this conversation numerous times. Any land claims or treaty rights establish the process for use of public land, and the GNWT follows that claim. So that is our process, and we've been following that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.