Thank you, Madam Speaker. Further to my statement earlier today, I’d like to ask the honourable Premier a few questions.
First, what is our government doing to protect the waters of the Peel River in case of development in the Yukon?
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. This government was very futuristic when we negotiated a transboundary water agreement with Yukon approximately 15 years ago. We have been making overtures to the Yukon government to modernize it and we are continuing to do so because we recognize the Peel River Watershed is a very important body of water not only for the Yukon but also for the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I would also like to ask our Premier, what input did our government provide to the Yukon Peel Land Use Planning Commission in order to protect the Peel waters in the NWT and Yukon? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
The consultation process for the Peel River Watershed occurred in the previous… It’s taken the Yukon government seven years to come to this conclusion and the consultation period was the first part of the seven years. The previous Premier had written to the Government of the Yukon indicating that they supported 80 percent protection that the Gwich’in had requested through the consultation process. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I realize the Yukon is a party system, but I’d like to ask the Premier, what options does our government have to persuade the Yukon to protect more of the Peel Watershed upstream from our border? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
The portion of the Peel that’s in the Northwest Territories is approximately 11 percent.
In September of 2010, at the request of the Gwich’in Tribal Council leadership, I wrote to the Premier of the Yukon indicating that we supported the call of the Gwich’in. I believe there are a number of options. Obviously we want to re-negotiate the Peel River Watershed and the Yukon/Northwest Territories Transboundary Water Agreement to modernize that agreement. There is a court case that has been filed and, as a government, we will be looking at that to see what kind of a role we should play in that court case. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Is the Premier willing to work with the Gwich’in Tribal Council to set up monitoring systems along the Peel River for future data? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
When we review the court case, we will look at our options and decide if we will take any action, if any. Obviously with devolution, we are looking at where the best locations for monitoring sites would be and I would expect we would look very closely at putting in monitoring sites in that area. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
