Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Never a backlog; we've always got work to do. So MACA is responsible for 21 statutes and their associated regulations. And some of it needs to be examined to see if changes are required. MACA will be selecting one taking on and prioritizing legislative initiatives. The department needs to balance the age of legislation, its complexity, the nature, and an extent of changes required, whether or not or stakeholders are experiencing issues with its administration. MACA must also consider the capacity of stakeholders to support the legislative development, the NWTAC and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Tlicho government and the federal Department of Fisheries and Ocean established a fisheries management working group to ensure any concerns with fisheries are brought forward and addressed.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Infrastructure developed a fish and fish habitat protection plan with the Tlicho AllSeason Road which considers measures and commitments made during the environmental assessment and incorporate input from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. And we've reached out to the federal government, and we've had these conversations from our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all the wildliferelated measures for the opening of the road have been completed. ENR has been working with the co-management partners to meet the measures from all or the Tlicho AllSeason Road environmental assessment that needed to be fulfilled prior to the road opening to the public.

In July, ENR provided input into Infrastructure's final habitat offset plan with boreal caribou which was submitted to the Wek'eezhii Renewable Resource Board.

In August, ENR submitted an interim Wek'eezhii boreal caribou range plan to the WRRB. Work on the full Wek'eezhii...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Members have asked us to work with NWTHC to look at what that gap is and we're working with them on that presently. Thank you, Madam Chair.

There's my yes for the year.

Thank you, Madam Chair. On my right is Deputy Minister Laura Gareau. Thank you.

I can tell you that the GNWT is talking to our Indigenous governments, to the Nunavut government and the federal government, in order to understand relevant views and interests about the GNWT's or the government's request, the Tlicho's governments request. Any GNWT position will take in account the views of all parties and stakeholders, including MLAs. The GNWT has encouraged the federal government to consider federal funding opportunities recognizing there should be a regional study moved forward with significant federal finance support would be required, including participants funding. And...

Yeah, thank you. So the department actually works handinhand with the communities. We have regional staff out there that will work with communities. So when federal funding comes out that fits into  well, sometimes they may not fit in to what we're looking at, but we try to work with the communities to see how we can make it fit in to what they're trying to achieve. So it might be a different project that they may have to do later on instead of what they're trying do. So we will look at it through that way. So we very much have staff that work together from headquarters in regions to work with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Member for the question. This summer ENR completed surveys to obtain updated population estimates for the five barrenground caribou herds: the Tuk Peninsula herd, Cape Bathurst herd, the BluenoseEast herd, and the BluenoseWest herd, and the Bathurst herd. Calving ground photo surveys were successfully completed in June for the Bathurst and the BluenoseEast herd, and a composition survey was done in October. The 2021 estimates for these two herds will be released shortly to all co-management partners and committee. In December, we are planning to meet...

For that detail, I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.