Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it recently came up on my Facebook about places that have talked about the closure of the diamond mine, and there's one scheduled -- there's a public discussion scheduled in a few weeks here about the impacts on the community. And, Mr. Speaker, it kind of makes you wonder about how many jobs are going to be lost in this process because we have, as potentially scheduled, Ekati at 2027, Diavik at 2026, and I think Gahcho Kue is in early 2030. So, Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister of ITI is how many potential jobs will be lost through this process that are actually NWT resident jobs; is she aware of this? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of ITI.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have approximately 1,400 NWT residents that are directly employed by our diamond mines in the Northwest Territories. In addition to that, we also have staff who work for private contractors that are subcontractors up on site. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So approximately 1,400. I like round numbers so whether it's, you know, 1,208 or, you know, 1,440. 1,400 is a nice number. So, Mr. Speaker -- it's a clear number, sorry, not a nice number.
Can the Minister give some details on how many businesses, and northern businesses to be specific, will be impacted by the closure of these three mines? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the number certainly fluctuates year to year and as different diamond mines get closer, for example, to closure, the types of businesses they're bringing up on to site and the amount of them does tend to decline, so that is a number that is certainly in flux year after year. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ITI. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm comfortable with that answer. I mean, it is in flux, and I'll be fair to that point. It's tough to nail it down exactly. But, Mr. Speaker, Indigenous organizations and their economic wings aren't a number in flux, and they're very easy to define. Is there any details on how many Indigenous organizations, including their corporations, will be impacted by this? In essence, the numbers that will be affecting them and their smaller communities ultimately is what I'm trying to get at and that does affect Yellowknife, but it also affects the regional Indigenous communities as well. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is absolutely right, our Indigenous development corporations do work very closely with diamond mines and do hold some of the primary contracts of our diamond mines, including Tlicho Investment Corporation, Det’on Cho, and it -- sorry, North Slave Metis Alliance as well as Lutselk'e's Development Corporation as well. And I do sit down and speak regularly with the heads of these development corporations about what work they're currently doing on site, what work they're projected to do on site, and also what other branches of economic development they are splintering off into as well. This is a very live conversation between myself and the Indigenous development corporations, and we continue to work very closely together. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of ITI. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
