Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, dovetailing on my colleague's comments about the economy, crucial to the economy, especially a natural resource economy, is land tenure. I'd like to ask the Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change how is his department moving expediently to ensure that there is comprehensive land tenure reform so there's certainty in the Northwest Territories for investment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly land tenure in the Northwest Territories has been top of mind for myself and my department as we work together with our Indigenous partners, Indigenous governments, and Indigenous organizations, and the many boards that oversee land tenure in the Northwest Territories. This conversation is very much a collaborative effort, and we are looking for ways to advance and streamline the process to ensure that where possible, we can align items to ensure that we are moving as quick as we possibly can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate collaboration, but we need urgency as well. So, Mr. Speaker, is the Minister willing to bring forward changes to timelines? Will he cut timelines? Will he reduce the amount of time it takes to review these files? Working in collaboration for sure, but setting a new service standard so we can get quicker turnaround on land tenure decisions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, similar to an earlier response, there are items in the budget -- the proposed budget that are currently being addressed that will help us to advance some of this work. We are also, as I said, you know, very much engaged with our Indigenous partners across the Northwest Territories, and we have made investments over time to ensure that we are helping them to enhance their capacity so that we can ensure that the process moves as timely as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not getting some clear answers so I will have to come back to this. But, Mr. Speaker, one of the partners the Minister left out is municipalities. Will the Minister transfer land requests from municipalities, particularly the city of Yellowknife but also Inuvik, Hay River -- will he transfer those lands that they've requested for by, let's say, end of Q2 this year? We need this land now. We need to bring the investment forward. It's time for these decisions to be made; will he make those decisions? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of files and different parcels of lands, whether it be in the city of Yellowknife or other communities within the Northwest Territories, that are currently at various stages within the process. Part of this process is ensuring that we are working closely with those municipalities as we have recently last year signed a new memorandum of understanding with the City of Yellowknife, and we are also working very closely with all of the parties involved to ensure that the process and we do proper consultation and move these forward in a timely manner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Oral questions. Member from Frame Lake.
