Louis Sebert

As I said previously, Mr. Speaker, there are a large number of Indigenous groups within the Northwest Territories that we have written letters to on September 5th.

Again, I am not certain whether we will be seeking to engage with Aboriginal governments beyond those, but again, yes, we do realize that this is an important issue, and we are hoping that those Aboriginal governments which we are dealing with, of which there is a large number, will spread the news to their various members.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our engagement with Indigenous governments has started. Really, what they do on their side is entirely up to them. We have started engaging with them. It would seem to me that they may wish to consult with their members, but that is their choice, of course. Thank you.

As mentioned earlier, the proven need for land must be established, first of all. As to whether the process is different for commercial, industrial, or residential land, I will have to look into that and get back to the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department does encourage community governments to apply for and obtain land within the communities where there is a demonstrated need to support future expansion and development of their communities.

Now, much of this land is unsurveyed, so, once we recognize a need for the land, we would have to in many cases have it surveyed. There is a way in which community governments in particular can apply to the government and obtain land within the community.

[Microphone turned off] …aware of the specific program in Whitehorse, but I do know that the RCMP will continue to explore alternate options for victims to report sexual assault, such as third party reporting.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can advise that, several weeks ago, the Minister responsible for the Status of Women and I had met with the commanding officer and shared our concerns about these matters with him. I believe he shared our concerns.

The Member opposite has identified some issues that do arise. There are our needs. There are also sometimes, in some municipalities, interim land withdrawals. We are obviously always willing to work with the City of Yellowknife, and we look forward to working with them. Again, they can make application, and we can respond. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We naturally want to move fairly cautiously in this area. As I said, there is an application that municipalities can make. It may not be that we have finalized all of our needs for the future. There has to be some sense in this, in that we realize that towns, municipalities, and cities do have a need for land.

On application, we have been turning over land to them. We will continue to do so, but there must be a reason for it, and we are not going to turn over all lands within the municipal boundaries to the municipalities for a variety of reasons, including that we don't know our needs for the...

This whole issue of unauthorized and potential rights-based occupancy of land in the Northwest Territories is an important issue for this government. Our initial contact, our initial engagement, is with Indigenous governments, and that is where we are at this stage. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I mentioned, our initial engagement, if I can put it that way, will be with the Indigenous government organizations. Whether further engagements will be required in the smaller communities is an issue which I will discuss with the department.

All I can say is that we are engaging with a large number of Aboriginal governments throughout the Northwest Territories and possibly beyond, if it is deemed necessary.

Our initial engagement, and, in fact, this engagement has just started this week, is with IGOs, and I assume that they would then be in touch with their members, but again, that is up to...