Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the first thing is we made the commitment to do the facetoface meeting. That's the important part of it. She has also committed to sharing information on the seepage and spills moving forward. So we'll make sure we have a robust process in getting that information to us. They also agreed that the dispute resolution provision of our bilateral agreement is the right tool to resolve the matter and set a plan to avoid this kind of incident in the future so we're doing dispute mechanism. She has agreed to that. She's looking forward to enhancing the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can advise you that the Alberta Minister recognized that there was a failure to communicate on the issue. There was a lot of finger pointing through this whole process and I can tell you she just found out this February. So she was similar into the same boat as us there. We talked about working together to improve how we implement the transboundary agreement. Again, it's about the wording and that so we've made that commitment to do that. And we've also committed to have a facetoface meeting sometime in April, whether it's the 13th or 18th. We're just...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize one of the interpreters Mary Jane Cazon, a resident from Fort Simpson. She does a great job, and I thank her for that.

I guess I'm going to jump on the bandwagon here and recognize Michael McLeod, former boss. He was my Minister way back when, so I thank him. I consider him a friend, mentor, and a sounding board in the work that we do for residents of the Northwest Territories. As well to Jackson Lafferty, a friend, mentor, colleague, sounding board, and now he's the grand chief. So welcome to our Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member from YK South, that Bill 74, Forest Act, be read for the second time.

I wish to advise the House that Bill 74, Forest Act, has been drafted under the Intergovernmental Council Legislative Development Protocol which sets out a collaborative process of development of legislation with respect to lands and resources between Intergovernmental Council, Indigenous governments, and the lands and resource department of the Government of the Northwest Territories.

This bill repeals the Forest Management Act and the Forest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as this motion contains the recommendations to the government, Cabinet will be abstaining. We look forward to reviewing the recommendation and providing a full response within 120 days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. And, again, I appreciate the Member's passion on this, and we've had this conversation numerous times. Any land claims or treaty rights establish the process for use of public land, and the GNWT follows that claim. So that is our process, and we've been following that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, I'd like to thank the Member for the question. We've had this conversation numerous times so I can tell the people of the Northwest Territories she's doing her due diligence in trying to get this information out there.

The department is working with the Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations to distinguish potential rightsbased cabins from unauthorized occupancy and to develop an approach to manage the rightsbased cabins on public land. The department will continue the discussions with Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations that want to engage with us on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I took the heat from the Members on the other side during their business plan and that, and I did bring it forth to raise the concerns with her about the House that development regulations for the release of oil sand tailings need to be transparent and public, and we need to be engaged moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did take some notes from that meeting so I'm just going to read them here.

Mr. Speaker, we spoke about the importance of sharing water our shared water to the NWT residents and the communities. We talked about some of the concerns that residents in the communities have downstream of the oil sands. We spoke about the importance of honouring the commitment of the Bilateral Water Management Agreement. We also spoke about the critical importance of being notified about development that might affect the ecological integrity of our water share. And we spoke...

Thank you Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, today I'd like to share with you a success story from the Nahendeh riding. 18 years ago, the business arm of the Acho Dene Koe First Nation, Fort Simpson Metis Nation, Nahanni Butte Dene Band, and Sambaa K'e First Nation came together to form Dehcho Regional Helicopters. The core of a business plan was to secure, with their operating partner Great Slave Helicopters, the contract for the helicopter services that supported the Fort Simpson fire base. It is a source of pride for the Dehcho Regional Helicopters Limited partners that every summer, since its...