Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the quick answer is no. We're hoping the contractors that people look at are reputable. But the contractors that we have in place, the assessors, and the abatement crews, they're reputable with these are companies that we know that are working there. We encourage the residents that are being impacted if they are going to get contractors there, make sure that they make sure that these people are reputable moving forward.

I can tell you that in the experience from my experience last year, a lot of the contractors that we used were all reputable businesses in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, previously I spoke in this House saying that we've reached out to the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada. To date, we have not received a response from him. So to give an update saying that we're getting more information, we're not getting any information.

The Member asked for getting well, we need update committee. We can update committee once we have information to provide. He talks about the website. We have other issues and other challenges, and we're more than willing to share information once we have current and important...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, according to the Alberta work plan to develop regulations to allow for the release of treated oil sand tailing water technical report to fill the knowledge gaps are expected to be shared with ENR this fall. No information other than the work plan and the RFP to hire contractors to fill knowledge gaps have been shared with ENR. These documents are public and presently out there.

Our next scheduled update from the Alberta mining/water science team is scheduled for early June. We will be working, once we have new information and we will make sure we get that to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Damage assessment reports are being provided by the assessment contracting to MACA as they become completed. So in other words, as soon as the assessors are completing their report, it's given to our pathfinders. From that time, the damage assessors are at the home to the time their reports are provided to the homeowners can take several weeks. We ask the people to be patient. We have seven assessors on the ground, and they are working hard to get this work done. But we also want them to take the required time that they need to go through with the assessment. So what we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we lined up four abatement companies to get in there, into the community, as soon as it was safely to do so.

In regards to the cost, the GNWT government is coordinating emergency work with, and the GNWT will cover the cost for those who prefer to coordinate the work themselves, there's an opportunity to submit backup documentation and seek reimbursement for work through an eventual claiming for disaster assistance. But if they use the four companies right now, that will be covered by the GNWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our environment is changing rapidly. Average temperature in the territory are rising up to four times faster than the rest of the world. Coastal erosion is already affecting communities, and melting permafrost is impacting infrastructure. We know that icefree summers in the Arctic will become a reality in the future, and ice jams have caused largescale flooding events in the NWT two years in a row. There are many factors that contribute to ice jam flooding, and climate change is affecting each of these factors in different ways. We will continue to see...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't give you that number because we don't know what that number is. We're getting the assessments in. We're looking at what I can tell you, last year, from the flood with Little Buffalo, Jean Marie, Fort Simpson, and Fort Good Hope, and Aklavik, we came up and it cost us just under 40 million. I think it was 37.5 million. That's what that disaster had cost us.

We also adapted or changed the Disaster Assistance Policy from a $100,000 to $240,000. We also changed what people are eligible from 80 percent to 90 percent. So we have these additional costs.

I...

Thank you. As I explained to the Member here, the process is to make sure they register first. Once they register first, our pathfinders will be working with them. We also then have assessors. Once the assessors are looking at their residence, how it's impacted, they do a report. Then we get the report. We bring it forth to the resident. That's the pathfinder's, that's a responsibility. Then we explain the process to them. From there, if the resident wishes to ask for an advance because they can't afford it, then it's seven to ten days from the time we put it in to assess them. The Department...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I've stated previously, we receive additional information about the knowledge gap and Alberta's plan to develop regulations, I will share with the MLAs.

To be clear, no discharge of the tailing waters allowed from the oil sands at this time and no decision has been made by the Government of Alberta pursuant to regulations to release oil sands tailing water.

The GNWT understands and shares the concerns with Indigenous governments, Indigenous organizations, NWT residents, and MLAs on the potential release of oil sand tailing waters and continue to bring...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ENR has regular meetings with the Alberta government and their staff on the development of regulations. To date, there hasn't been any significant new information to share.

Alberta has made it clear that no decisions to develop a regulation has been made and that they will wait to fill knowledge gaps before deciding to proceed.

Regarding what ENR is doing, we are seeking expert technical support to support our review of the information we receive from Alberta. These Requests for Proposals have been and are expected to be posted shortly with the goal of...