Shane Thompson

We can give a commitment to what the process is and how we're doing it. But for communications, before I make that commitment, I would like to get the deputy minister to explain what's going on. It hasn't been radio silence from my point of view. Maybe there is some been some challenges and maybe it's just the information that I've been receiving, and maybe it's because I've been talking with the Tlicho government on this very topic. So with your permission, I'll go to the deputy minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I would like to thank the member for the Deh Cho for the beautiful eulogy of Evelyn Krutko. She was an amazing woman.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Rita was born on a small farm in Lonesome Pine, Alberta, to Mary and Arthur Lockhart on the 27th of June, 1935. She was the youngest daughter of 14 siblings. Her mother passed away when she was 12 years old. After her mother passed away, she moved in with her sister, Eva Morbick in Edmonton. Rita went looking for work at the age of 16 which found her on a plane heading to Yellowknife to start her adventure. Her first job...

Thank you. So we do have enforcement. We have individuals that reach out to our departments, our regional offices, and we inspect it and that. But for that detail of how the process is, I'll ask the deputy minister, with your permission, to provide more information. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my understanding of the 2014 report that the Member's talking about was jointly done with NWTAC. We're more than willing to work with them to go on there.

As for the inadequacies that the Member talks about, it's a budget process. We need to compete with other priorities for the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Member from Yellowknife North talked about $20 million for housing. Bam, let's give me $20 million for housing. Well, how do we take that compared to other issues? Housing is a priority. We've heard it in this House. But we have other...

Thank you. So the Member should be aware that my EAC is sending out emails that I get, and I send it to the Member right away. Whether we get them from the community, who are asking questions and that, when I send this stuff out there, the latest one was an issue about freeze up. We get that sent to the Member right away so she is aware of what's going on.

As for the formula, yes, it encompasses everything. Again, when we talk about the municipal funding formula, it was developed with NWTAC for the betterment of the territories, the 33 communities. So it's a formula that's used, and it counts...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and it's going to be a long answer on this one because I want to make sure we get the information out there.

In recent years, we have seen a decline in many caribou herds across the NWT and northern Canada. As you noted, the Bathurst herd declined from an estimated 47,000 in 1986 to 6,240 in 2021. At the time, we also saw a major decline in the BluenoseEast herd, declining from 120,000 in 2010 to 19,300 in 2018. The Beverly herd declined located to the east of the Bathurst herd was established at 103 in 2018. That's 103,000. And has been undergoing a slow decline in...

Thank you, and I apologize to the Member for the longwinded answer but it's very important we get this information out there.

So it's not what the herd is, it's the mobile zone. So the mobile zone is the area where the caribou are. Last year we had the overlap of the Beverly and the Bathurst and the Bluenose. And again, it's where we have our collared animals and that's where we know where our herds are. It's important to note that it's illegal to harvest any caribou in that mobile zone and regardless of the herd. And I think every Tuesday it's updated. So we make sure that information, so...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this transboundary agreement's one of the best ones in the world. We were very lucky in how we were able do it. And it is our standard moving forward with our transboundary agreements.

To ensure NWT interests are considered in decisionmaking on the oil sands monitoring, ENR made a request to the federal government and provincial governments for a seat on their joint oil sands oversight committee. We were waiting for a formal response from the federal government. The department has asked for it and received the work plans and requests for proposals to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question. The department has been engaging with Indigenous governments and organizations for many years as part of the development and implementation of the TransMonitoring Water Agreement and the Water Stewardship Strategy. I've met with Indigenous leadership about the transboundary water agreement implementation and I've heard concerns from communities and residents about the proposed development regulations authorizing and the release of treated tailing water. ENR provides regular updates and seeks input from the NWT strategy Indigenous...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, demonstrating her strength of will, independence, and sass right to the end of her welllived 48 years, Sherri Lynn Thomson passed away Monday, December 6th.

Born in Yorkton September 15th, 1973, the third child of Graham and Linda's four children, Sherri spent her earliest years in southern Saskatchewan with her family before settling in 1977 on the PFRM farm.

Sherri developed a passion for hockey, participated in minor hockey programs, and from grade 10 to 12, played for the Fort Saskatchewan First Team culminating with a trip to the Canada Winter Games in...