Kevin O'Reilly

Merci, Monsieur le President. My educational background includes a planning degree, and that is what brought me to the Northwest Territories on December 15, 1985, to become the land-use planning coordinator for the Dene Nation. I had the privilege of working directly with some great Northerners, including David Krutko, George Barnaby, Gina Bayha, Violet Camsell-Blondin, Raymond Jones, and Michael Nadli. I have maintained a keen interest in land-use planning and looked over the document "Finding Common Ground" tabled in the House a couple of days ago by the Minister of Lands.

The Tlicho...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I support much of what my colleague, the MLA for Kam Lake, said. He served as chair of the committee. Not a lot of us actually have a copy of the report in front of us. I just want to quote from one paragraph, Mr. Chair. This was to try to capture the views of NWT citizens on this issue.

"In each of the smaller communities to which the committee travelled, committee heard support for the inclusion of genetic characteristics as a prohibited ground of discrimination under the act. Mr. Mike Keizer, a Parks Canada employee from Fort Smith, expressed his support for prohibiting...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. The conclusion, as I read it in the report, is we conclude that, for the present or near future, near-term future, a ban on such information would likely have no significant negative implications for insurers or for the efficient operation of markets such as life insurance. That says it all to me, Mr. Chair.

I just have one other sort of general question. This notion of adverse selection, how does something like no-fault insurance work for auto insurance in BC in terms of people's driving records and so on? I know it's a state-run system, but they seem to have overcome that...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that explanation of what was in the federal legislation and what it covered in status, and so on, but is there any evidence that, as a result of this, in the federal legislation, any insurance companies have vacated the marketplace or refused coverage in any areas of federal jurisdiction as a result of the passage of that bill? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. That wasn't really my question, but I am glad to get that information. Has our government received any correspondence, communications from individual brokers, individual insurance companies, that they would withdraw coverage for residents of the Northwest Territories if genetic diversity was added into this bill? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. This is, again, I think, a good piece of work, and I want to applaud the work that the Minister did to bring the bill before the House. This is the first time that I think it has gone through a comprehensive review. The Human Rights Commission itself was behind many of the changes in shifting the system more to a restorative approach, which I think is a good thing, but also clarifying some roles and responsibilities so that our citizens can better access their human rights as well.

I support many of the changes that were made to the bill. I think that there is one big...

I want to thank the Minister for confirming my understanding of how the committee is to work, and similar in function to these other boards. One of the features of the land use planning boards for the Gwich'in and Sahtu settlement areas is that they continue on into the implementation phase of land use planning by checking on the conformity with proposed land uses once a plan has been approved. Can the Minister explain whether the Wek'eezhii land use planning committee will have a role in the implementation of any land use plan approved for that area, and tell us what that role would look like...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today, I made a statement about land use planning in the Wek'eezhii management area. To be clear, while I take issue with why GNWT is picking up all the costs related to this effort, I support land use planning there. The Tlicho agreement refers to a land use planning body being established by agreement. Can the Minister of Lands tell us whether that body has been established, and what it is called? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am an alternate on the Government Operations Committee, and I want to sincerely thank all of the committee members for their very hard work in putting this together. I sat in on all of the discussions here in Yellowknife. This is a great report. This is why we are here as legislators, to do this kind of work. Very significant improvements have been made to the bill, but I do want to particularly recognize a few individuals for the work that they did on this whole process.

I want to congratulate the chair of the committee, Mr. Testart, for stick-handling this through the...

I want to thank the Minister for sharing that information. I hope that he is going to share, maybe, a summary of the geotechnical report with myself, as this building is my riding, when it is completed. The other key unknown here, of course, is the role of the City of Yellowknife in promoting visitors services. The Minister once told me that "we are working with the City of Yellowknife to determine the long-term model delivery of the visitors information centre." Can the Minister update us as to what sort of discussion there has been with the City of Yellowknife in providing proper visitors...