Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, my question would be for the Minister of ECC.
I just want to just quickly highlight one thing here. In Alberta, the tar sands, it flows into Lake Athabasca, and they also have a uranium mine in Saskatchewan that also flows into the same lake and flows north. But my question would be to the Minister of ECC, is in the event of the Alberta government failing to include or consult or accommodate Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories, what can we do to work with Government of Canada to come up with new legislation so we could hold Alberta to account on downstream-user effects? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's hard to speak to a question that's hypothetical like that one, so I just don't have a response for that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Okay, thank you, I appreciate that. But, Mr. Speaker, also the effects of downstream in Lake Athabasca and Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan government has taken the approach to clean up that project but there's still no consultation with the Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories. Has this Minister been able to work with the Government of Saskatchewan to figure out why we're not included in that remediation project on the abandoned mines in that northern Saskatchewan? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at a staff level we are engaged with the Province of Saskatchewan through our bilateral agreements. We currently don't have a transboundary water agreement with Saskatchewan. We are in the process of having conversations. As these issues are raised, certainly something I will take back to the staff and get a further update. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Right now, as it is, it's really concerning because in my riding in Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh riding, I've been to so many funerals, and we are feeling the effects from these downstream users. I guess my question, Mr. Speaker, is that has this government had any discussions with the Government of Canada on creating new legislation so that downstream users in the Northwest Territories are protected? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we work very closely with the federal government, with the environment and climate change. We have had multiple conversations around the treat and release issue that has been raised in Alberta. And we also have, through bilateral meetings, conversations about water quality and quantity in the Northwest Territories. We have many funding opportunities that we share -- receive from the federal government that helps to inform our quality and quantity of water within the Northwest Territories and supports Indigenous governments in many monitoring programs throughout the Mackenzie Basin. This work is ongoing. And, really, like I said earlier, you know, our transboundary water agreement is really the key tool that allows us to ensure that we have metrics to measure the current quality and quantity of our water and ensuring that our ecosystem health is stable and meeting those measures. So we are constantly working on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
