Rylund Johnson

Thank you. I'm not in favour of this motion. Right now when Committee of the Whole has to deal with their business, the chair calls it, and then we have a vote, and then sometimes Cabinet has to, you know, get something on the agenda we saw it today and last couple times over the last while. I don't know why adding this extra step would occur when it doesn't occur with anything else. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. If someone over there, who knew, would just tell me the price of the estimated building the Taltson Hydro Expansion Project, I would vote for this capital budget. I've been asking for four years. This House has approved tens of millions of dollars on that project never knowing how much it's going to cost. I think it's embarrassing for all of us that we're doing this. So one number, and I'll vote in favour of this. I don't even care if I like the project; I just want the number. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I just will make some general comments on my thoughts. I think we as the government are in a pretty good place in implementing UNDRIP. We have a bill here before us today which is, you know, essentially identical to the ones passed by the federal government and British Columbia with a few minor tweaks. You know, there was a bit of a debate whether we should have done this earlier in the Assembly or a bit of a debate whether we should not have done it at all. I think, you know, getting it done within the life of this Assembly, considering it's a bill that you know...

Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories in its capacity as a member of the action plan committee, advocate for the action plan committee to choose an independent person or entity to lead the fiveyear review of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Implementation Act. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories should, without delay, make all authorizations provided to a Minister to negotiate or enter into a shared decisionmaking agreement under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Implementation Act publicly available by publishing it on a governmentmaintained website. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories should set up a funding framework to support Indigenous governments or organizations' capacity to engage with work to implement the declaration going forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories, in collaboration and cooperation with Indigenous governments or organizations, develop and release a clear statement on how it interprets and intends to apply free prior and informed consent. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think Prosper NWT is the greatest name ever; I love it, I'm excited. I'm really excited for the CEO and board and to truly become arm's length and hopefully they don't have to deal with any more MLAs for a long time. My only concern, though, is I think the board right now has four Yellowknife Members and one Fort Smith Member, and then has some vacancies. Can I get an update on how we're doing with trying to add some diversity to the board. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't usually ask openended questions because you know, but it's the end of the Assembly, and I'm just wondering if the Premier has any sort of reflection or a lessons learned, or perhaps that is something the negotiators are doing, about, you know, how we could perhaps speed up some of our negotiations. We have over 17 tables and, you know, to get something signed in four years is, I think, a disappointment. Is there any sort of reflecting occurring either by the Premier or within the department to look how we could speed some of these tables up? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, I'm not actually sure that this is in other acts, that it does anything to list the specific land claims. You know, the original motion says section 35 of the Constitution Act and existing Aboriginal treaty rights, which then is meant to include of them. But we've done this before. And then we've kind of been having this debates in every single piece of legislation since this wording was introduced. And I would encourage the government I guess we don't have any time but to just put this in the Interpretation Act and then it applies everywhere, and we can call...