Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in the House to recognize and share some, I repeat some, amazing things about Ms. Joanne Deneron during her public life. I can say I have the pleasure of knowing her and have had some very amazing conversations with her since moving to Fort Simpson in 1992.

Mr. Speaker, Joanne is a resident of Fort Liard, is nominated for work and community leadership. Joanne has been selected for or elected to many positions in the community of Fort Liard where she served with distinction and gained recognition for her community, whether it was on the band or...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to I had about five pages of notes, but my colleagues took a whole bunch from me and I started crossing them off. I got down two pages.

Mr. Speaker, my first four years being in this as an MLA, I had the opportunity to work with Tim during that time. I can tell you the new 11 of us probably aged him about 30 years because, you know, Oceans 11, we kind of had a whole bunch of questions and he turned on the fire hose but we kept on throwing about 11 other fire hoses at him. So he was able to help us there.

I'm very thankful for having him here...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we talk about Cranberry Crescent, so when we talk about mitigation, sometimes it's not about the berms; sometimes it's about the ability to move the furnace or the boiler up on to the next floor there on that. So we're working on that.

In regards to the question that the Member has asked, because the road wasn't impacted by the flood, we are now working with the community. We are actually doing a survey on that road and seeing how we can work with the federal government on other programs that are available. If we're able to access that funding, then...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I got six minutes and 28 seconds, so I'm going to take the time to answer this question.

Mr. Speaker, when the Member talks about maybe putting houses up eight to ten feet, I can tell you right now in other communities that had the same flooding the previous year in 2021, that's what we had to do. We had to put homes up eight to ten feet. In my riding, in Jean Marie River, we had to actually do that.

In regards to the question that the Member has asked, he's asked this numerous times in this House, we're looking at the various options available for the residents and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, if the individuals do not want to talk to us and come into our lands, they can go in, talk to the Indigenous governments, and they can reach out to us. So we do have a process there.

In regards to his question, commercial operators occupying public land are required to have tenders. So they need to apply through a process. The department currently approached our the department's current approach to managing rightsbased cabins is not considering commercial harvesting or operations. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. I guess I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and recognize my former boss. He was my Minister when I worked for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. And his great leadership for the stuff that we're able to do during that time working from them. And as an advisor and I say somebody that would be able to give you sound advice throughout the time of my first four years as a Member, and his wife for putting up with him being gone for so long, Judy; thank you for much for being here today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to provide an update on the ministerial mandate and commitments to review the Government of the Northwest Territories Land LeaseOnly Policy.

Mr. Speaker, the Land LeaseOnly Policy was initially established in 1987 to ensure ongoing Aboriginal rights agreement negotiations were not impacted through the sale of land. Since then, our territory has changed in many ways. Our population and economy have grown, our communities are more developed, and the GNWT is responsible for most of the land and resources. While this progress is welcome, this growth...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we been working with the Town of Hay River and K'atlodeeche First Nation on things moving forward. In regards to mitigation, as long as there's a plan in place, then we're able to use our disaster assistance policy if the situation happens. The old adage is prepare for the worst and hope for the best. So we are working on that. The timeline, we're working with the town and the reserve, and it's with them. We have to be able to work with them to come up with a timeline. That's on their speed. We're not going to rush and do it wrong. As the Member...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I live down the street from the Member so I guess I've been there for 32 years too. So I appreciate that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I can honestly say we've had this conversation with the Member, and I greatly appreciate him asking this question in the House.

All available public land can be viewed on Atlas, the department website management system. If that's a problem, they can go into the department and talk to the staff there and check the website itself and we are more than willing to help there. Commercial operations interested in public lands may work with land administration to determine the land availability as well. An application may submit lease applications for any...