Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to rise in support of my colleague's point of privilege. I think, as a person who only speaks English, this is an issue I can never truly understand. I've worked in the courts, and I've seen people I struggled to understand, and I think the importance of interpreters in the Northwest Territories -- and this issue is so much bigger than us, and so much bigger than this House -- every step we take as leaders to support our Indigenous languages is the right step, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do appreciate that breakdown, and I guess it wouldn't be fair for us when referring to the cap to include market because, if we can build more market housing and then it pays for itself or even makes us money, then that's great. I guess my question is: I'm not satisfied with our current mandate commitment which says we'll build 100 units if we can convince 100 people to get units. In many of the communities, a house is not an investment; it's a depreciating asset, and we're just passing on something that will never increase in value to a person. I question whether...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. Committee will reach out, and we will look forward to continuing to have those discussions. Especially ENR's legislation is at the heart of, really related to, Indigenous and Aboriginal rights. I was hoping the Minister could speak to the process we are going to use and whether all of these post-devolution kind of initiatives will be using a co-drafting process.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Interestingly enough, we, as Members, are actually allowed to purchase carbon offsets through our CWAA to save for any flights we may take. Just an interesting fact for Members. I would like to see the GNWT look into that. Will the Minister of ENR -- I recognize that perhaps Finance, I don't know where exactly this would lie -- be willing to look in the possibility of GNWT utilizing carbon offsets as one of the many tools in fighting climate change?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess my next question is: work began on the Forest Act in the last Assembly. This department also is responsible for a number of the devolution pieces of legislation, the Waters Act, EPA, very significant pieces of legislation and work to be doing. Given the rush to get a bunch of legislation done in the last Assembly, I was just hoping the Minister could speak to what legislation we can expect to come forward in this Assembly and whether it's adequately funded in this budget, or should we expect to see a supplemental to make sure all of that very important...

Thank you, Madam Chair. My concern is that the Auditor General, one of the specific things is that we seem to lack any clear authority of responsibility for climate change. If we know that the energy strategy is not going to get us to meet our targets and we know that we, as a government, are not reaching our targets, which I think, considering we are disproportionately affected by climate change, really is not showing that we are a leader -- we are a relatively small jurisdiction. I recognize that, but I think we all have to do our part. If we know that we are not on track to meet our targets...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Now that we have this on-the-land unit developed, I was wondering if there were plans to update the Traditional Knowledge Policy.

Thank you, Madam Chair. When can we expect to see air regulations in place?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Perhaps I could get the Minister to commit to just providing some more information to the appropriate standing committee on the status of this work. I believe the goal here is to eventually stand those down, if I'm not mistaken.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I do recognize that it is a privately owned herd, so I guess I will just accept that as an answer and reach out to Mr. Binder at some point. Madam Chair, I guess my next question is: presently, we have a fairly large no-bison zone due to a number of disease controls. I have actually had constituents reach out on the possibility of looking into bison farming. They also looked into reindeer herding as the possibility of getting some of those things, and right now, the regulatory process just essentially makes that impossible, is what my constituents have told me.

This...