Kevin O'Reilly

Yeah, okay. Well, let me just try it, yeah. I understand that this language comes from other laws of the Northwest Territories passed by the Assembly. So I just want to find a way to confirm that, and which pieces of legislation it comes from.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. I said in my earlier remarks before somebody tries to say otherwise that I agree in principle to the idea of shared decisionmaking agreements. And, you know, I think we probably have some kind of examples out there of those sorts of arrangements. You know, you might say that Deline selfgovernment is that kind of an arrangement. But I guess one of the concerns I have here is, you know, we don't really know or understand what the scope of these agreements could look like; how frequent they may be; how many there may be; what is GNWT going to look like at the end of...

Yeah, thanks. I can certainly support this. I am concerned about the level of engagement there was with Regular MLAs in the development of the bill. Unfortunately, it all happened behind closed doors so I can't say much, but it certainly didn't meet my expectation. And the bill, I don't think, really reflected, in my opinion, the legislative proposal, which I can't speak to either, was at such a high vague level that the bill I guess didn't really the bill had a lot more in it than I think I'd expected as a result of the legislative proposal, and there's a number of issues that I'm sure we're...

Okay, thanks. I don't know how do I get at this. The first answer I got was yes, it does apply or may and then it may apply in certain circumstances. And now it's not going to apply to settlement lands. So I kind of think I heard three different answers. And I'm not a lawyer, but I want to know how the government, GNWT's, going to interpret this, because I don't want this stuff to end up in the courts. I don't want workers to go unpaid because people there's some uncertainty as to the application of this bill. I don't want Indigenous governments to have to go to court to sort this stuff out...

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. So what this would do is create the ability for the Regular Members to have a representative, whether it's a Member or some other representative of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight, be at the committee meetings the action plan committee meetings. And this is further, though, restricted and so basically it would be up to the action plan committee itself to determine the classes of persons that might be eligible, whether that's an elected official or a hired person by AOC. The action plan committee would decide this itself.

The action plan...

Merci, Madam la Presidente. Committee wishes to deal with Committee Report 5519(2) and Bill 85. Mahsi, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. So will that include settlement lands; you know, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, some of the Sahtu entities, the Gwich'in Tribal Council actually own some lands surface, subsurface, sometimes both for the same parcel. This bill would enable seizure and sale of those settlement lands? I just want to confirm how GNWT's going to interpret this bill. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. I'd like to move a motion if I may.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As mentioned earlier, this guideline does not apply to sites that have land use permits and/or water license. The guideline does not allow the GNWT to accept financial liability or perpetual care at the GNWT cost. Under the Environment Protection Act, the parties responsible for the contamination is responsible for cleaning it up. If the responsible party is unable to address the contamination and is deemed an environmental emergency, the Act gives environment and climate change the authority to undertake the work required and recover the costs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, that's kind of my thoughts exactly. If this doesn't apply to GNWT, why are we doing it? Will this bill apply to Indigenous governments and will it allow seizure and sale of Indigenous owned lands? Thank you, Madam Chair.