Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT has met several times to discuss with the city initiative, including two meetings with the city to date. Work has been focusing on ensuring clarity on what Lands initiative will include, ensure clarity on the process to carry out the initiative, and identification of milestones accomplished throughout the initiative and who is responsible for each. The department is focused on ensuring the initiative is carried out in a timely manner that ensures the transfer is done right. A meeting with the city is scheduled for next week to continue working with this...

The letters that come from the department are letters that support legal contracts such as lease agreements. They need to be clear. They are not meant to carry a specific tone, but to ensure that there is no misunderstanding of the points that need to be communicated. If a lease fee remains unpaid and there is no intent to continue use of the parcel of land, it is the responsibility of the department to ensure that the land be left in an acceptable condition. This often means a condition that is as close as possible to the original state. I agree with the principle when addressing public lands...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will have opportunities to revisit the mechanisms used to set the rent and fees, and it will be part of bringing our Public Lands Act into force. We are starting to work on it. It's part of a process. It's not going to be fixed overnight; it's going to take some time. We are in the process and there are mechanisms in there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The "Guidelines for Closure and Reclamation of Advanced Mineral Exploration and Mine Sites in the Northwest Territories" were developed jointly by the land and water boards of the Mackenzie Valley and the Government of Canada, now CIRNAC. These guidelines outline the requirement for closure and reclamation plans and stress that closure objectives and criteria be established for the site. Although these guidelines are designed to cover mineral explorations and mine closure, the concept of guidelines apply to all development projects in the NWT. These guidelines were used to guide development of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Strategic Oil and Gas was, at the time of devolution, transferred an operations site which has gone through an environmental screening and regulatory process and met the criteria for a release site. The site has an owner that is responsible for clean-up and environmental liabilities. Canada transferred the securities associated with all operating sites on April 1st, 2014. Adequacy of security is the subject of continual review and revision as part of the modern regulatory process in the NWT.

At the moment, Strategic Oil and Gas, although it is in creditor protection as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Hunting has a long and honourable history in the Northwest Territories. At the heart of this tradition is a deep respect for the wildlife, the environment and the people of this land. Residents of the Northwest Territories have told us they want to make sure these values and practices are passed on to the next generation of harvesters.

During the 18th Legislative Assembly, this government made a commitment to the people of the Northwest Territories to develop a Hunter Education program for youth and new hunters. This new program promotes best practices for safe and...

Can't make a commitment right now because right now, we are trying to work on our Public Lands Act. Part of it is our regulations right now. What I can tell the Member is that the city, MACA, and Lands are in the process of working together on this issue. Any other municipality that wishes to work on this issue, we are more than willing to work with them to address this. Again, we have to get our regulations in place. The Public Land Act was passed in the last sitting, but we now need the regulations in place to be able to deal with this matter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The department continues to work with all the communities in NWT to address their individual land needs. Lands is not in any discussions with communities at this time than a minor transfer similar to the initiative currently being worked on by the city.

Mr. Speaker, if I recall, we had the opportunity to meet, at which time I arranged a time to discuss your concerns immediately. I believe that we had a productive discussion, and I have followed up on the matters that you raised. I realize that my responses may not be the ones that you would like to hear at this time, but I can assure you that I will continue to work on this matter with my officials. We do have further work that needs to be done to ensure that we have a modern approach to land management in the NWT, including around fees. I have mentioned a big part of this is getting the...

The department is not stalling. We're trying to work on this. It's critical that one of the main focuses for the Department of Lands during the life of the 19th Assembly is to do the work on regulations needed to bring into force the Public Lands Act. This work needs to be done in advance of further changes to lease pricing.

It is important to note that, although there was an increase to recreational land lease fees, there was a decrease to the lease fees for residential leases where people's homes are in communities of Commissioner's land. This was part of the result of my questions 31 times...