Richard Edjericon

Just one more I think. I'm just thinking about the on the Giant Mine public hearing, we had many intervenors or proponents etcetera, like DFO, department of the environment, and all the aboriginal groups, etcetera. So if you were to find in your reports and fish studies etcetera, or water quality, you have an opportunity to probably work with the Alberta government and try to I guess address those issues. But also my question would be is that during the water licence process, are we involved in that process too as well through your department and Alberta? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yeah, I think this is a be a discussion on this one here. I just wanted to let you know that I was also involved at the Mackenzie Valley Impact Review Board as a chairman for six years and we also were really concerned about the water and transboundary. So we also made arrangements to work with the Alberta government on the transboundary agreement to share information. And that information, to me, was really important because we kind of the mandate, the review board at the time was making sure that we protect the wildlife, the air, and the fish.

And I guess the other...

Thank you for that. Now that you told me those numbers on that, has your department or to the Minister, has your department gone out to figure out the actual cost to remediate these mine sites in broad numbers so we I don't see any numbers here but I'm asking that question to you. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I just had a question for the Minister.

Since devolution, it's my understanding that the contaminant sites, does the GNWT take responsibility of the contaminated sites, or is it my understanding it's still the responsibility of the Government of Canada?

So 72 there, the other thing is that I know last year we'd there was in the news where there was wasted meat that was found. You know, in the Dene culture, you know, we don't like to waste meat. We harvest what we need and that kind of thing. So I guess maybe you could help explain what assurances can you give me to see how we could prevent this from happening again for when hunters go out there, sometimes they waste meat, et cetera. Like, what are we doing to put a stop to that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, thank you. This section I just want to make sure, are we I know we got the time limit in going through this. Is it or do we go through page by page and then we go through ten minutes of it? Or just can I get some clarification on that? Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. Yes, thank you for that response. I was reviewing the budget for our riding, for the Tu NedheWiilideh riding, and this year our allocation for this year is about 3.4 million.

Madam Speaker, I guess I'm concerned about that number when we really need help in our communities, whether it be internet services, which is really slow in Lutselk'e, dustfree roads in the community of Lutselk'e. That's just to name a few. And then now, you know, I am hearing that we need to improve the winter road and barging season so we can provide essential services into the community...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I got a question for the finance minister. I was just reviewing your 20222023 budget, and in the budget it talks about grants from Canada. And I'd like to ask the Minister if she's able to maybe talk about the grants from Canada and perhaps break it down further because I'd like to know how the money's coming in and how is it broken down. Thank you.

That concludes my questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for that clarification earlier because I was the chairman for the Impact Review Board, and I've been through that as well, so thank you.

Another question to Mr. Chairman is that now that I guess I want to know how's the department working with the remediation portion? Once they identify this and figure out the costs and that, how's that work going to be let out? Is it going to be done through contracts or can that be done through working with Indigenous governments and that kind of thing? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.