Caroline Cochrane

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Shane Thompson will be absent from the House today and tomorrow to attend the federal/provincial/territorial sport, physical activity, and recreation ministers’ meetings in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

As well, Madam Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Julie Green will be late for the House today as she is currently participating in a phone meeting with Indigenous Services Canada's Minister Hajdu. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. As stated earlier, I have and it took a lot of work to get that item on the Council of Leaders' agenda. I feel it would be disrespectful for me at this point to make decisions since it is on their agenda as a topic. So I'm going to wait until those conversations happen at that table, and then we'll make decisions based on that feedback. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I do know that within the Indigenous treaty land claims, selfgovernment agreements, the cabin issue is addressed in many of them so that is one way of doing it. I also know that it's gotten a lot of attention recently because of the work that the Minister of Lands is doing with the unauthorized occupants in the Northwest Territories of which there are lots. We are trying to work with the Indigenous governments on rightsbased cabins to give them the money to help them to identify the cabins that are theirs. We've posted. We've posted twice on people's we don't know...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Yes, I have heard those arguments before. During my tenure as Premier, I actually reached out to the Indigenous governments that aren't part of the devolution agreement, trying to talk to them about what their concerns were, trying to express the benefits of being at that table. But I do respect that they don't want to sign on. I also brought their because, again, they asked if they could be part of that table, share in the resources without being a member being part of devolution. I did bring that forward to the Intergovernmental Council. In fact, I brought it...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Every member of the Intergovernmental Council does receive financial support to take part in that table. Any Indigenous government that signs on to the Intergovernmental Council devolution agreement will also get funding to sit at that table. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually we do try to I'm not sure if all the time but try to get better at it. But I do know that at the Arctic Council actually that we just attended, we did let the Members know on the other side. They sent a Member to attend with us. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, the Northwest Territories doesn't actually have a seat at that table. It's the federal government that does. We sit on working groups. We go as part of the Canadian delegation but we're not actually the direct member for that. I am assuming that once Norway takes over the chair that meetings will start again. However, I'm kind of wondering where the Member is going with this and I think it is around geopolitical things that are happening. And so I do want to stress that the Ottawa declaration explicitly excludes discussions of military security at the Arctic...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm also pleased to recognize a couple of visitors joining us in the gallery today. The honourable Senator from Nunavut and former government leader and chairman of the Executive Council, Mr. Dennis Patterson. And the director of parliamentary affairs for Senator Patterson's office, Claudine Santos. Mr. Speaker, I'd also like to recognize all of the patient advocates, but Faith Woodruff I'd like to recognize as a former colleague in the NGO world and a personal friend of my own. Really glad to see you in the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So thank you for the clarification. I was kind of wondering what the line of questioning was going to be. So no, the Arctic Council has not met in the last two years because of Russia being the chair and the geopolitical issues that are going on right now around that. But the Member is correct, it's important that things are happening in the Arctic, and so it's important that we do take as many opportunities as possible to be able to discuss issues that affect the Arctic. So I know that Ministers have gone and officials have gone to COP. I also know that in the last...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So Canada, the federal government at this point is the representative on the Arctic Circle or the Arctic Council, sorry. The Northwest Territories does go as part of the Canadian delegation, and we do sit on working groups as appropriate for the Northwest Territories. But the Arctic Council has not met for the last two years. Russia was the chair from May 2021 to May 2023, which is coming up. My understanding is that Norway will be the next chair and hopefully there will be some movements once Norway takes over the chair. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.