Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement with some questions on the Recreational Leasing Policy. First of all I want to clarify who knew what on the issue of the many so-called hunting and fishing leases granted by AANDC, particularly those on Walsh and Banting lakes.

Can the Minister confirm whether his department was informed by our federal land management partner of its intention to grant new leases in the exact areas and lakes where we are trying to introduce comprehensive land use management? And really, for that matter, can the Minister confirm whether any...

Thank you, colleagues. I appreciate the opportunity to give my Member’s statement here today. For the past four years, I pushed for sound recreational land use planning in the Yellowknife block of land transfer area surrounding Walsh and Banting lakes and beyond. We had a premature draft plan released by MACA and a promise for a completed policy framework by this March 31st, but thanks to recent and outrageous action by our federal land management partners, we can forget about that document or any worthwhile plan for now.

Walsh and Banting lease holders are steaming over AANDC’s recent granting...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks again for that response. My constituents include the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and many of the Akaitcho people. Every new land alienation in the Chief Drygeese territory makes it more complex and difficult to finally conclude a just land settlement for the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. The federal government seems to interpret their fiduciary role here in a very strange way. I am surprised YKDFN hasn’t thrown up their hands and told the federal government they will see them in court.

If YKDFN does decide to go to legal action to halt this erosion of their...

Obviously, that’s not good. A government-to-government relationship you’d expect a lot better than that, and I think we also have a responsibility to try and be aware of what our residents are being exposed to or not.

As the Minister’s December 2012 letter to AANDC Minister John Duncan said, with the signing of the Devolution AIP, it’s more important now than ever before that our two organizations work together, and I appreciate the Minister saying that.

The Minister’s letter briefed the federal Minister on the work underway to develop the recreational leasing policy framework. But what is the...

With my colleagues’ co-operation again for returning to the next item on the orders, I will be asking the Minister’s assurance that he will make clear that come devolution day, every hunting and fishing leaseholder will be rigorously held to conditions for no creation of permanent structures. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I request unanimous consent to return to item 3 on the orders of the day.

---Unanimous consent granted

WHEREAS the Elections and Plebiscites Act provides that the Commissioner may, on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly, direct that a plebiscite be held on any question that is of importance to the people of the Northwest Territories;

AND WHEREAS the Government of the Northwest Territories signed the Northwest Territories Lands and Resources Devolution Agreement-in-Principle on January 26, 2011;

AND WHEREAS on March 11, 2013, the Prime Minister of Canada announced that consensus on the terms for achieving devolution of lands and resources to the Northwest Territories had been reached;

AN...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to table a statistically valid poll of small and large communities, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, male and female residents of the Northwest Territories, sponsored by Alternatives North and entitled EKOS Poll Reveals Groundswell of Support for Plebiscite on Devolution Agreement.

Thanks to the Minister. Some time ago committee commented on the NWT Land Use and Sustainability Framework but it seems to have disappeared into the quagmire. Will the Minister be bringing this forward for consideration by committee before it’s finalized? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on the Minister’s statement earlier today on the update on the Protected Areas Strategy from the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources and see if I can seek some more clarity. He did state we will continue to support the completion of working group reports and the extension of interim land withdrawals for candidate areas, which I really appreciate. He also says we will continue to advance the establishment of core representative areas within each eco-region, which makes sense.

My question is: Are any of the five areas currently scheduled...