Bob McLeod

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise to advise Members of the Legislative Assembly that the Honourable George Tuccaro, Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, has been reappointed to his position for another one-year term.

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The appointment was announced by the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, the Honourable Bernard Valcourt, last week. Commissioner Tuccaro’s second term will begin on May 11, 2015, and end on May 10, 2016.

The role and relationship of the Commissioner’s Office and the Government of the Northwest

Territories has always been...

My understanding is that all of the boards that have vacant appointments, they’ll fast track the appointments. The Gwich’in Land and Water Board has total members of five. They need three for a quorum. There is one current vacancy of a chair, one appointment expiring in the next year on November 8, 2015. With the fast-tracking of board appointments, we expect that it will be business as usual.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can confirm that the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories suspended Section 253(2) of the Northwest Territories Devolution Act with regard to the MVRMA, all plans to come into force April 1, 2015. This will result in the preservation of all the regional land and water boards for now, including the Gwich’in Land and Water Board, and a delay in implementation of regional studies and cost recovery authorities.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable David Ramsay will be absent from the House this week to attend the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Convention in Toronto, Ontario, and the Pacific Northwest Economic Region Arctic Roundtable in Washington, DC. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We will be producing a summary report, providing it to committee. Committee can respond to it. My expectation is that the responsible departments for the respective devolution legislation will review the legislation and, over time, they’ll go out to the public, seek input to the specific legislation, and that will be accomplished through transition, and also, we will fulfill all of the commitments that we made to devolve and evolve. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are getting real. We are real. The Member talks about a glacial response to questions that are posted on the website. There were two questions posted on the website. The first one related to directors’ liabilities. The second one related to legal obligations for those wishing to bring pet monkeys to the Northwest Territories. The first question was answered and the response posted on the devolution website and the second question was handled by ENR. I don’t see where the glacial response comes in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Jackson Lafferty will be absent from the House today due to illness. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Member is suggesting that there’s a groundswell of public who can’t wait to respond and review all this legislation. I see no evidence of that. We have committed to a final summary report that will be shared with the standing committee before the end of session. If committee is unhappy with the report, they can respond to it and we will take action. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It sounds like the Member is the only one that’s declared it to be a unanimous failure. I think this public review of devolution legislation is something that’s been ongoing for some time. Perhaps if I reviewed the objectives of the review, the Member might have a clearer understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish.

We’re trying to encourage the general public to better understand the legislative process associated with devolution, including mirroring and delegation, to have an opportunity to review devolution legislation and to ask questions of clarification, to...

Mr. Speaker, on Friday, February 27th, provincial and territorial Premiers and Ministers, federal Ministers and national Aboriginal organization leaders will gather in Ottawa to discuss how best to collaborate and coordinate action to prevent and address violence against Indigenous women and girls.

The National Round Table on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is an unprecedented gathering of partners from across Canada who collectively agree that concrete and identifiable actions are needed.

We know from national research and reports that indigenous women and girls are three times...