Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A lot of things are just Cabinet has the control to do but Cabinet very seldom makes decisions without doing the proper consultation, especially when it talks about things that impact the whole population, especially Indigenous governments. So it would not be something that I would support that Cabinet would just go ahead and do on their own. We would need to do the consultations.

Like I said, the Tlicho region is a little bit easier. Those communities are all Tlicho people. But I look at your own region, I look at the Beaufort Delta, Mr. Speaker, and that wouldn't be as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have the ability to be able to tell the prime minister what to do, what to fund, etcetera. I wish I did have that power; we'd be a lot better off in the Northwest Territories. However, I don't. So what I can do, though, is, like I said, I will write a letter to the prime minister. I'll explain the concerns of the MLA, that he's hearing these from his people, and I'll ask the prime minister what new research has been done with this and raise the request to do a public inquiry. We won't do it as the GNWT but I will write a letter to the prime minister. Thank you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually, when it was first brought to my attention last sitting I can't remember if it was March, it was the first I've heard of it in honesty. I stated, I mean, I was here in the '70s, I just wasn't paying attention to the sky at the time. But I did do a little bit more research after that and looked into it. I think that there was a lot of research. I mean, there was a lot of research done at the time. The research found that there was no causal link between the debris from the satellite with cancer incidents, specifically in the Fort Resolution area. The research...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually I'd like to get things off my plate too. The more I have on is the more work I have. So I will make a commitment that I will have this done by before the end of June, and probably sooner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm just wondering if by any chance that I offended the Member. It was certainly not my intention to offend the Member by stating that it would take a long process. She is right, I mean, Cabinet makes decisions, but the Premier speaks for Cabinet. So it would not be mine, but I am the only member of Cabinet that has the authority to speak for Cabinet. Like I said, it's not as easy as just having a Tlicho region. We have some communities, like I said, the Beaufort Delta has a couple. The Sahtu has seven different Indigenous groups. How do we do that? So it's something...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the administrative regions actually predate the establishment of Indigenousrights agreements. And I think that like, I heard the Member when she was asking the Minister the other day on this, and I gave it some thought as well. The difficulty is it's not the regions aren't divided just by Indigenous governments. If we did that, that would be really cumbersome. I think we need to look at it but we need to figure out a better way. It's a little bit simpler with the Tlicho. They are one community, one government. But we have some regions that have multiple Indigenous...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this point, I'm not too eager to jump on that at this point. I think that there should be maybe a followup with the prime minister. My understanding, I think, is that this would be federal jurisdiction versus territorial. We don't control the sky. But, again, if the Member would like, I think that I have no problem; I can write a letter to the prime minister asking if there's been any more research or anything more that he could report on this if that would appease the Member. And also, again, I understand I empathize, I hear, and I've seen it myself, how people are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, at this point, since March 2023, I haven't had any meetings with the prime minister, so this has not been addressed with the prime minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That was a long wait, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I want to start by recognizing one of my favourite federal ministers. It's true. It is true. Minister Dan Vandal is the Minister of Northern Affairs. He's the Minister responsible for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency and the Minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development in Canada. Minister Vandal is not from the Northwest Territories but he's an Indigenous man, and he, like grand chief once told me, he not only listens, he hears our needs. And so he's always welcome to the Northwest Territories, and we'd love for you to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For change of protocol a little bit, I would like to  I'd seek unanimous consent to return to item number 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.