Bob McLeod

Thank you, Madam Chair. To my right I have Kelly McLaughlin, director of legislation for the Department of Justice; to my left I have Jamie Fulford, legal counsel for the Department of Justice. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That was federal government legislation. Thank you.

This body can only make recommendations, so any recommendations that they make have to come back to this body and public input will come through these Members that are here, and they can get input in whatever fashion they want. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to Bill 14, Waters Act. The passage of this legislation is an important step towards implementing the Northwest Territories Lands and Resources Devolution Agreement.

The Waters Act substantially mirrors the federal Northwest Territories Waters Act, which Canada will make inapplicable on lands and waters not retained by the federal government on April 1, 2014.

Under the Devolution Agreement, the GNWT is committed to “substantially mirror” Canada’s statutes and regulations that are being repealed or made inapplicable to public lands and waters transferring to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is something that has been negotiated for some time. The framework was provided for in the agreement-in-principle, which is public information. This involves Aboriginal governments, so this is an agreement that was negotiated on that basis. The Aboriginal governments have also indicated that they want to be involved in a review and participate in a review of all the legislation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Bill 17, the Northwest Territories Resources Revenue Sharing Agreement, was an agreement that was negotiated amongst the Aboriginal governments themselves for their share or their agreement. The second part to his question, I’ll ask Mr. Thomas Druyan, through you, Madam Chair, to respond.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Our objective is to get 100 percent of the Aboriginal governments in the Northwest Territories to become our partners. There are some specific provisions in this legislation as to how would that work, and through you, Mr. Chair, I’ll ask Mr. Goldney to go into more detail. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. In every instance these bills were shared with our Aboriginal government partners for input and for feedback. Thank you.

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.

Yes, I would, Madam Chair.