Kevin O'Reilly

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a motion I'd like to make to amend a document. I move Tabled Document 1-18(2), Proposed Mandate of Government of Northwest Territories 2016-2019, be amended on page 11 by deleting the words “We will ensure that residents are informed about the territories' resource development options, including the potential benefits and risks associated with different options” and inserting the words “We will ensure that residents have meaningful opportunities to participate in the assessment of potential benefits and risks associated with resource development, including...

My questions are for the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. Regarding the co-management boards governing the Mackenzie Valley and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, what is the Government of the Northwest Territories doing to ensure that all vacancies on the co-management boards are filled? Could the Minister provide background information on the current state of vacancies, including:

the current number of vacant positions on each of these boards;

how long each of these currently vacant positions has remained vacant;

the nominating authority for each of these vacant...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I don’t want to belabour this, but I also have a personal connection with this as I am quarter French Canadian. [English translation not provided.] I'll try to speak a little bit of French occasionally in this House, but also, my children did go through Ecole Allain St-Cyr. They did not have access to a gym and special classrooms, but I'm hoping that we can put that sort of stuff behind us and move forward in the spirit of cooperation and collaboration with the francophone community here in the Northwest Territories. Merci.

I just want to better understand the slow progress on the establishment of this division and the critical work that it's starting to get place. I believe the Minister may have partially answered the question here, but can the Minister of Lands describe what the barriers are for this work and what the Department of Lands is doing to get this important work back on track?

Mr. Chair, I believe I have another motion here to amend the mandate document. I move that Tabled Document 1-18(2), Proposed Mandate of Government of Northwest Territories 2016-2019, be amended on page 18 by inserting the words “We will work collaboratively with the NWT's francophone community to support French language education.” Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Bathurst caribou herd has suffered a catastrophic decline over the last 30 years from 472,000 to as low as 16,000 animals today. The response from this government to date has largely been centred on restricting the harvest by non-Aboriginal people and more recently, on Aboriginal peoples who have agreed to not take any caribou from this herd. The causes of the decline are not clear but we do know that the herd is less resilient when numbers are low and any further cumulative impacts may push the herd beyond the point of no return. A recently released study by the Tlicho Research and...

When we first started to discuss the mandate, I had proposed some changes to this section to try to make it a little more balanced. I will give some examples of those. The focus, really, in the fourth paragraph: “GNWT has a fiscal problem that will require expenditure management.” There is nothing in this section that talks about efficiencies or new revenues. I would look for a much more balanced approach. There are a couple of other parts of this that I find objectionable. Another sentence here that says, “We should not take any actions that will decrease investment or increase the cost of...

Mr. Speaker, earlier today, I talked about the document “We Live Here For Caribou: a Cumulative Impacts Study on the Bathurst Caribou Herd.” I'd like to table this document.

It is not just this MLA that is concerned about the state of the Bathurst caribou herd. The Mackenzie Valley Review Board said this in its February 1, 2016, report on the Jay Project, “The lack of a management plan for the Bathurst caribou herd during a period of very low numbers and a declining population is unacceptable to the Review Board. There is no evidence the GNWT is developing a herd recovery strategy. The Review Board notes that the GNWT was required by Section 12.11.2 of the Tlicho Agreement to prepare a comprehensive proposal for the management of the Bathurst caribou herd...

I had a very close look at the mandate over the weekend and tried to follow its development from the first draft to the third draft, and have a number of observations I'd like to offer today. I recognize this is a new process for everyone and that it was really intended to improve consensus government and build stronger accountability. I think it may be a bit scary to some to develop specific measurable commitments and deliverables for which you would be held accountable, but I guess that's what I had expected to see in the document. I want to start with some positive comments and thoughts...