Richard Edjericon

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, the Minister offered to come across this House, Minister Simpson will go across I was hoping that will happen and we would have this thing resolved.

Mr. Speaker, has an internal review taken place internally into the unconstitutional violation of the Lutselk'e Timber Bay culture camp raid? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Tomorrow's the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Day. It's Friday. Everybody's tired and want to go home and that kind of thing, and so I'm just hoping the Minister is feeling good today.

Mr. Speaker, after a year with no further progress on the supposed investigation into the caribou harvesting in Lutselk'e, will the Minister now recognize the wrong that was done under his watch and apologize to the community of Lutselk'e and start the reconciliation process as mandated by this government? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. No, I just got general comments overall. But I've been here for almost a year and a half in this position, and I continue to advocate our wishes of what I've been hearing from my leadership in Lutselk'e; for example, you know, winter roads, and I've been bringing this issue forward. There was no commitment by this government. This was no commitment to undertake a study or anything like that for the need to put a road into the community of Lutselk'e, a winter road. And, you know, like, it's hard for me to sit here to go through this budget again. And, really, you know...

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Minister. Can the Minister confirm if work has been done to identify potential unmarked graves in the former Rocher River community in an effort to protect these sites from potential development? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of the Taltson Hydro Expansion Project, it's an outstanding issue for Members in my riding and the constituent Members. In the early days when the project was started, I remember Canada undertook this project but there there was really no consultation or accommodations with the residents of Taltson, residents in Taltson River.

Mr. Speaker, the right now, last weekend, I went down to Fort Resolution and I went to Hay River. I paid my respects to my relatives at the graveyard. I go to Fort Resolution. We do the same thing. In Dettah, every fall, we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Minister. Given the history of the Rocher River, can the Minister confirm the involvement of the Akaitcho First Nations in the Taltson Hydro Expansion Project and what financial resources have been provided to them to into a meaningful participant in this work to help relocate the graves to drier land or to communities in the Akaitcho region? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that the GNWT's working closely with various Indigenous governments through engagement on the expansion. My question is about public consultation, particularly with elders, on the potential impacts for unmarked graves regarding the Taltson Hydro Expansion Project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the ongoing discovery of unmarked graves throughout Canada only further highlights the atrocities of a colonial system which has negatively impacted Indigenous people since European contact. The community of Rocher River was abandoned in order to provide a clearer path for the Taltson Hydro Electric Dam. This is a sad tale that can be told across Canada where the scores of Indigenous nations forcibly evicted from their ancestral homelands to make way for industrial development to benefit incoming colonial settlers. The history of Rocher River is complex...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Speaking to the bill, I also too won't be supporting the bill. You know, as it is already we have a regulatory process that we all have to go through when the mining industry comes up here. I know for sure in my community, N'dilo and the community of Lutselk'e and Fort Resolution, we do benefit from the mining industry from employment to IBAs. Some of these IBAs were just paid out to help put out from this evacuation that just happened and, you know, it's a concern that we're that we're doing that but at the end of the day, there's got to be a different way to do this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The $40,000 grants is just not going to be enough. For our community of Fort Resolution, you know, that community council and the Metis council paid out monies to their evacuees, some that all from are all scattered across Canada. And also in YKDFN, they spent a lot of money out of their IBAs that they want to see back, and also the community of Lutselk'e. Not including the work that they have done to fire smart the community as the fire would start to happen. They incurred a lot of costs to date. And, Mr. Speaker, they want to see some kind of monies back to their...