Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in NWT, the majority of our community landfills are unlined. For Minister of MACA, can the Minister indicate which communities in the NWT currently have lined landfills. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That I wouldn't know offhand. There's a lot of detail behind that question. However, what we can do is reach out and see how the community landfills are established. I know some of them are established on a clay base, not necessarily a liner. So I can reach out -- we can get the department to reach out to the -- they might even know but I don't have that detailed answer here. One of the things that I will say is that a lot of the landfills are -- actually all of the landfills are community-base operated, so they're operated by the community governments so they would be, you know, more, I guess, in tune of exactly how their landfill is operating. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you. Can the Minister explain if financial or technical support is available to communities, especially small and remote communities, to upgrade their landfill infrastructure to include liners? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All the communities receive their community funding and that part of that community funding is to operate landfills, a portion of it. But the Government of the Northwest Territories have also done a plan for hazardous waste removal back -- over the past few years, and they've done a successful job in taking out some of this hazardous waste in some of these landfills. So whatever the communities are deciding to do, if they need to do them, it's usually done through their community funding or any other funding sources that the community's able to achieve. However, but they do have supports from municipal and community affairs in regards to operating the landfill, certification for landfills, and any other resources that they may require. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, it's a good time to partner with ECC regarding that, that question.
Okay, Mr. Speaker, permafrost thaw is affecting landfills. Mr. Speaker, MACA guidelines for modified solid waste facilities were developed in 2003. Is the department considering updating these guidelines? They are now over 20 years old. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not entirely sure about the timeline on updating the policy or those guidelines. But what I could do is, again, reach out to the department and see what the plans are for them. However, we do follow the -- the communities do have to follow numerous guidelines when it comes to operating a landfill. Part of it is having a water license which goes through Wek'èezhìi Water Board in the Tlicho region, but in the other communities it's Northwest Territories Land and Water Board. Yeah, and the other thing to this is if there's any concerns about any spills or any hazardous waste spills from landfills, there is a toll-free number that can be called to report this, and it can be checked out. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.
