Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At some point early on in the life of this government I made the point that we were hoping to settle all the land claims in the life of the 18th Assembly, and, certainly, my expectation is that we will make very good progress.

I strongly believe that the report of the ministerial special representatives will advance progress significantly. We had very good meetings with the grand chief of the Dehcho First Nation at roundup in Vancouver. We are both very optimistic, and we're all prepared to work very hard to move this file forward significantly. We've had discussions...

The ministerial special representatives that were appointed by myself and the Minister of Indigenous Affairs for Canada have been working very hard in both the Deh Cho, MSR had met with all of the leadership and has gone to every community and I think has also had a final round of meetings. Similarly with the MSR for the South Slave has undertaken all of those discussions, and I fully expect that final reports will be brought forward within the next couple of weeks, certainly before the end of February and also I understand some initial drafts have been shared with some technical experts for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through you, I'd like to redirect this question to the Government House Leader, Minister Abernethy.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome my colleagues back to the Legislative Assembly. As this sitting gets under way, I would like to update Members and the public on some recent activities that the government has undertaken to advance the mandate and priorities of the Legislative Assembly and service of the people of the Northwest Territories.

Shortly after the close of the last sitting of the Legislative Assembly, all Ministers went to Ottawa for a series of meetings with federal Ministers, parliamentary committees, and others. The purpose of this trip was to share the Federal Engagement...

The Department of ENR, as well the Government of the Northwest Territories, has been very active in seeking the input of MLAs, Aboriginal governments, stakeholders, and residents as part of its work on developing the Northwest Territories' Climate Change Strategic Framework. We have incorporated those comments and concerns into the Climate Change Framework. Traditional knowledge has an important role to play in both the development and implementation of the framework, and our work will reflect that once it can be released.

I should also point out that the Government of the Northwest Territories...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pleased to advise the Member from Nunakput that the Government of the Northwest Territories has been monitoring the development of an arctic fishery. We do this by our ongoing engagement on this file with our federal colleagues in Global Affairs Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and also we do so by being actively engaged in other forms, like the Arctic Council.

In the early days, we were involved, before the creation of Nunavut, with the Arctic fishery getting its early start. Since then, the Government of the Northwest Territories has a positive working relationship with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and every GNWT department interacts with DFO in one way or another. For example, our officers of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources, through an agreement with DFO, have enforcement and administrative responsibilities under the Fisheries Act. Also, we as a government have written to the Federal Fisheries Minister requesting...

I believe I mentioned that we are looking to be able to move forward in early 2017 with some parts of the requests in the letter.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We received the letter yesterday from the mayor of the City of Yellowknife, and also the Member has been a city councillor for nine years, so he doesn't seem to appreciate the good working relationship that this government and the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has with the NWT Association of Communities. However, having said that, we will take the letter; we will break it out into different pieces; even though we are working on many, many legislative priorities, we will work with the city to make sure that these proposals are dealt with in a timely...

I don't like to speculate so I'll respond to his question when I have the exact date.