Wally Schumann

At present, right now, the Department of ITI is working with the Northwest Territories Geological Survey and we are looking at expanding our geological knowledge on the Mactung property.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report that the Department of Transportation's contractor has started its fourth and final winter of construction on the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway. As we come nearer to completing construction, I want to talk about the significance of this project to the communities of Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk and the residents of the Beaufort Delta.

The project has already significantly contributed to local employment. At the peak of construction last winter, more than 430 individuals were employed on the project, with 74 per cent of these coming from the Beaufort Delta region or...

All our six parks are in the South Slave, as the Member alluded to that are in his riding  or, actually, in the South Slave, I guess. We continue to work with all Aboriginal groups and communities on how we are going to expand, how do we maintain and work with them, and how do we work with the community governments and Aboriginal governments to bring more economic opportunities based around tourism. We will continue to have that dialogue with all stakeholders in the region and across the Northwest Territories on how to improve that. We will continue to do that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Territorial parks are developed to promote recreational and economic development opportunities across the Northwest Territories, and we will continue to do that. The GNWT is led by the Department of ENR for our conservation network planning, and that includes both protected areas and conservation areas. They will be bringing that forward, their longterm strategy of doing that, and bringing their conservation areas with their plan forward on ecosystems and biodiversity. We will continue to work with them as a department on helping them support that. Our Territorial Parks...

In the Sahtu, we have a number of things that are going on. As far as right off the top of my head on conferences and stuff, I can't think of one that's coming up here in the short term. The one thing that I can speak about that's happening in the Sahtu region is the recent announcement of the Canyon Creek project. That's a good example of providing training and opportunities to residents in the Sahtu. That's going to bring approximately 50 jobs to the region. Also, in the last two years, ITI has worked with the people in the Sahtu to do the wire cleanup on the Canol Trail. There are two years...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our government invests daily into small businesses with all the stuff that we do in the Department of ITI for sure. We have targeted policies, programs, funding initiatives that we use. Last year we spent $18.7 million in grants and contributions to entrepreneurs and businesses in the NWT and groups with economic interests that operate within the NWT. We also have the SEED program, which I believe, if I check department records, we spend around $500,000 that is distributed within the Sahtu region alone.

Additionally, we provide an annual contribution to the Sahtu...

The Department of Lands conducted a site assessment on the Mactung property in August 2016. Those results were actually shared with standing committee already.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually, the sign said "unlock your potential; the NWT resources are for sale." All kidding aside, when we were down there, we had an opportunity, like I said last week in the House, to talk to a number of people, be it prospectors, finance companies, mining industry, potential mining companies. The Mactung property was also brought up in a conversation of where we are at with that property and what we are doing moving forward on it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Aboriginal tourism is a great initiative that ITI has put forward. We will continue to work with anyone who accesses this program. There are a couple of initiatives there for community governments to access that. As I have said, the Department of ITI will continue to work with everybody, be it Aboriginal tourism, communities, Aboriginal governments, residents of the Northwest Territories, on how we can enhance and use our parks to the best benefit to the residents of the Northwest Territories and all the visitors that come here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I said, ITI is responsible for territorial wayside parks. They were more for economic development than regional use. ENR is currently moving forward with their conservation of protected areas, and they are going to be coming forward with new legislation. When legislation is proposed, they have interdepartmental working groups that go through all these things, and these initiatives will be coming forward as it's a governmentwide initiative. We look forward to them bringing their LPs forward on this, so we will continue to work with them.