Jay Macdonald

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week, I met with the Alberta Minister of Environment and Parks, Rebecca Schulz. We discussed issues of shared concern, including low water levels. We discussed the concern that had been raised by the NWT Indigenous governments, partners, and residents about our low water levels. We also discussed the water shortage advisory that is currently in place for the Hay River basin in Alberta along with many other water sheds in the province. Water use by temporary and longterm license holders has been affected. Through our transboundary water agreement with Alberta, there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. The department's role related to low water levels is essentially providing situational awareness of the current conditions in the Northwest Territories. Our hydrologists regularly review real time data that is provided through a number of mechanisms. This information will tell us the current water level and the flow rates, and this information is provided through monthly bulletins about the current water conditions. This information then can be used by departments or EMO during the freshet, by infrastructure particularly...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, annually the department regional wildfire management staff teams undertake community engagement every winter as part of an annual process. They meet with all the community governments, Indigenous governments, Indigenous leaders, and community members, provide them with information regarding wildfire response. And then also the community members are given an opportunity to bring forward their concerns from the past fire season, more concerns or thoughts they have on the upcoming fire season, and there's a public forum which gives them an opportunity to address those...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, barrenground caribou are extremely important to the people, cultures, and communities of the Northwest Territories. They have supported northern Indigenous peoples from time immemorial, and it is important that we all work together to ensure caribou populations remain strong for future generations. In recent years, many herds across the NWT have undergone significant declines, particularly the dramatic 99 percent decline in the size of the Bathurst herd. These changes are driven by multiple interacting factors, including harvest, predators, and the impacts...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Any decisions on water conservation will be informed by our snowpack assessments that we do annually and water levels of source rivers. Information would be shared with communities and with multiple parties involved in this discussion and further action. ECC will continue to assess water conditions and distribute monthly monitoring bulletins to the public. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while ECC is unable to predict how much rain or snow there will be other the next several months, it's safe to say that we would require an extremely high rainfall amount across the large geographic area to increase our water levels at this point. The winter snowfall amounts across the NWT have been extremely variable, and these very low snowfall amounts in Fort Simpson and  sorry, ECC will continue to assess water conditions and distribute monthly NWT water monitoring bulletins to the public. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the emergency response plans are the responsibility of the community governments, and they're the ones that are responsible to prepare, adopt, and maintain the emergency plans and programs, including reviewing their emergency response plans annually. Environment and climate change is indirectly involved with these plans as they move forward or as they come into implementation in that we provide, you know, support and information to those activities. Over the winter, I know MACA will be delivering community emergency planning workshops to assist community...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question. The Department of Environment and Climate Change is working closely with the Indigenous governments and the Indigenous organizations in a collaborative approach to determine what is the best solution to this and how we can resolve this together through collaboration and having discussions and ensuring that it's not solely a Government of the Northwest Territories' decision but it's one that is engaging with the Indigenous governments and the Indigenous organizations to ensure that their feedback is heard and that we're working...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, at this time there is a pause on lease fees for Indigenous leaseholders as we work forward with the Indigenous governments on a process to determine how we can collaborate and come up with a better way to address this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, climate change is one of the biggest challenges that we face as a territory. The. NWT is experiencing rapid warming at up to four times the global rate which affects every aspect of our lives and impacts our territory's economic, environmental, social, and cultural health. Today, the Department of Environment and Climate Change released the Responding to Climate Change in the NWT Annual Report. I am pleased to report that the Government of the Northwest Territories and partners across the territory are making real progress on this front.

Mr. Speaker, all 132 action items under the...