Louis Sebert

Mr. Speaker, when I first took over this file I had thought that there would not be many equity leases out there, but unfortunately there are a great number. I can advise that there are actually 243 equity leases spread throughout all five regions of the Northwest Territories; they are all on Commissioner's land.

In the coming weeks my department will be bringing forward options for me to consider. I will bring those to Cabinet for consideration and then to the Members for further discussion as appropriate. We certainly do recognize this is a very important issue for many leaseholders...

The Department of Infrastructure is working with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to identify gaps in knowledge and opportunities with respect to caribou population along the proposed corridor, so it's not as though we are in any way ignoring this very important issue; and I realize that this is a complex issue.

I want to repeat, however, that we are concerned about the issue of this caribou herd and that any of our planning will take into account the grave concerns that we've heard about the diminution of the numbers of this caribou herd that travels between Nunavut and...

The government supports the Government of Nunavut and the Kitikmeot Inuit Association's recommendation that further environmental review of the project would be valuable, and recommends that the federal government provide participant funding for any such review.

The Government of Nunavut and the Kitikmeot Inuit Association are, of course, the proponents. The GNWT recognizes the potential transboundary economic benefits associated with infrastructure corridors such as the Grays Bay road and port and supports strategic infrastructure developments such as this project.

We heard earlier today that...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 28, Interpretation Act be read for the second time. This bill sets out fundamental concepts governing the rest of the Northwest Territories' legislation. It:

sets out key principles of statutory interpretation;

identifies the elements in a legislative text that are to be considered part of the text;

provides standard definitions of commonly-used words and expressions;

provides standard sets of provisions regulating aspects of the operation of all enactments, such as the effective time of commencement, the effect...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize all our guests in the gallery, in particular Steven Cooper, a colleague of mine for many years. I would also like to recognize and thank two of the Pages from Fort Smith: Hannah Porter and Bronwyn Rutherford-Simon. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 29, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2017, be read for the second time. This bill corrects inconsistencies and errors in the statutes of the Northwest Territories. The bill also deals with other matters of a minor, non-controversial and uncomplicated nature in the statutes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled "GNWT Response to CR 8-18(2): Report on the Review of the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 Annual Reports of the NWT Information and Privacy Commissioner." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 28, Interpretation Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we of course wish to use the limited resources at our disposal in the most effective manner possible. I do note that a very similar question was asked of another Minister in March of this year. The answer at that time was that we didn't think that would be the best use of money and that we would rather focus our money and efforts on prevention and healing. I concur with that.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. The 18th Assembly, of course, has identified family violence as a priority. We do recognize that this is a very serious issue and in fact, a crisis, in the Northwest Territories. Our department, along with other departments, does treat this issue very seriously.