Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am here to present Bill 26, Statistics Act.

The Northwest Territories is the only jurisdiction in Canada which currently does not have statistics legislation that establishes a legal framework for the collection, protection, and dissemination of statistical information.

The purpose of the legislation is to establish a new Statistics Act for the Northwest Territories that will establish the roles and responsibilities of the Bureau of Statistics; outline data collection, analysis, and data dissemination procedures; describe methods to ensure the confidentiality of...

I think that, in the past budget that we just approved, we did put some money into enhancing the Boots on the Ground Program. I think that it is a great program. I think that we put some money in to enhance that. I do believe, with our conversations with our counterparts over in Nunavut, that we will take some steps to help try and protect the Bathurst caribou herd. This was an initial meeting setting a path forward, and I am not sure if they have had these meetings before. We did share with them our concerns and the concerns from the Aboriginal leadership on this side of the border about the...

I thought it was a very positive and productive meeting that we had, and we did come up with an agreement to enhance our caribou research monitoring and management actions. Again, there was recognition of the leadership shown by the Tlicho government on the issue.

This was a fairly high-level political leaders' meeting, along with our technical staff. We had some good discussions on the calving ground, our concern that the calving grounds are in Nunavut, and maybe they didn't have the same regulations or restrictions that we had. They understood that, and they have committed to have a...

Again, we will work with the project team to try and mitigate as much as possible access and that to the residents who use the site. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Giant Mine Remediation Project, they meet regularly with the NWT Historical Society and the Great Slave Sailing Club and discuss issues concerning impacts on both subleases by the Giant Mine Remediation Project. The Giant Mine Remediation Project will continue to work with both the NWT Historical Society and the Great Slave Sailing Club to accommodate access to their operations wherever feasible throughout the remediation project.

First of all, a lot of times this winter in the news reports we saw pictures and stories being filed of alcohol that is being seized going into some of the communities. I commend the RCMP for the work that they're doing. I commend those who have reported that. I don't recall seeing a winter where there has been so many pictures and stories posted of alcohol being seized. That is a start. We are late in this Assembly, but it's never too late to start the discussion on what we can do going forward. I will have a conversation with the department on maybe coming up with ways that we can work on...

I cannot commit the next government to anything, but I will have a conversation with the officials, see if there is an opportunity where we could do a bit of a questionnaire or some consultation on how far the people in the Northwest Territories want to take this. I commend communities across the Northwest Territories who have voted to become dry communities because they, too, recognize the effects of alcohol in their community and they are trying to do what they can to combat that. I think we should provide some type of support to those individuals who want to fight the amount of alcohol that...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We disagreed with this. We found that this would be very disrespectful to the Indigenous governments. The Bureau of Statistics works closely with our Aboriginal government partners throughout the Northwest Territories, and this is a bit of a sensitive issue with for Indigenous governments.

Our view was that these issues are best solved through cooperation rather than the heavy hand of legislation. Having said that, we have a very good working relationship with Indigenous governments. We have worked with them on a number of occasions. Cabinet will not be supporting this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories made a mandate commitment to develop a territorial climate change strategy that takes into account northern energy demands and the cost of living, while reflecting international and national commitments to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Last year on May 1st, the Government of the Northwest Territories released the 2030 Northwest Territories Climate Change Strategic Framework. This is our government's coordinated, comprehensive response to mitigating and adapting to climate change, outlined in the following three goals:

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Very deeply, Mr. Chair.