Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In following up on my Member’s statement, my questions are for the Minister of Transportation. I want to note that the development of the Giant Mine never delivered economic benefits to the people of the Drygeese territory. It crippled the subsistence wealth of their traditional lands and left a legacy of poisons to deal with. If Giant were a new mine being developed today, an economic benefits agreement would certainly be in place as a first order.
Suppose that this mine were being developed today, based on his experience over the last 12 years of diamond and other mining developments in the territory, what economic benefits would the Minister see as the basic opportunities made available for the YKDFN economic participation?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In answering the Member’s question, I think the Northwest Territories has come a long way when it comes to developing mines in our territory. We have resources like the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, and certainly back in the 1930s, a property like Giant, the Aboriginal community at the time wouldn’t have access to impact benefit agreements. There was no such thing as a socio-economic agreement with the government of the day.
Nowadays, when we develop new mines in this territory, there are such items like IBAs and socio-economic agreements where Aboriginal governments and companies can avail themselves of opportunities from resource development in our territory. That includes business opportunities, education, training and employment opportunities. Certainly, with the advance of diamond mining in our territory, many of our communities, especially in the North Slave region of our territory, have benefited tremendously from the development of our resources here. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister for those comments. As I’ve noted, some critics of this negotiated contract underway right now claim that we already have a full, competitive complement capable of this project. I don’t disagree with them on that point. Yet, as I said, YKDFN’s Det’on Cho Corporation is taking root today because that First Nations’ participation was never promoted when the mine was developed.
I’m wondering what are the Minister’s views on ensuring that Det’on Cho is enabled to join the ranks of our successful First Nations and other development corporations and finally get an opportunity to join the competitive capacity of industry on their own traditional lands. Thank you.
Certainly, through the Detah access road program that Det’on Cho was involved in, they have proven themselves. I believe this will just benefit Det’on Cho and the Yellowknives Dene tremendously, in that it will give their members more opportunities for employment, for education and for training their own people and advancing their capacity.
As I mentioned, with Giant Mine being on the very doorstep of Chief Drygeese territory, I think having the Giant Mine Liability Fund fund the work of the realignment of Highway No. 4, it’s the very least this government could do to help the Yellowknives Dene on Chief Drygeese territory.
Thanks to the Minister for those comments again. The Detah road, as the Minister mentioned, is actually an unfinished project because of lack of government funds, and I’m hoping we can find some. But it’s a prime example of the good work being done by Det’on Cho. I’m wondering if the Minister can outline some of the local and territorial economic benefits resulting from this negotiated contract, assuming that there’s some monitoring of those benefits.
Certainly, I talked about the employment opportunities that came as a result of the $6 million negotiated contract between the government and Det’on Cho on the Detah access road. We have to identify further funds to allow that project to continue, and we will be continuing to look for further funding opportunities to continue the work on the Detah access road.
But specific to opportunities, I know Det’on Cho provided a great deal of training in partnership with Flemming College, and also with the Mine Training Society here in the NWT. The quarry was used for field training, drilling and blasting, and it resulted in numerous employment opportunities for First Nation members of the Yellowknives Dene on that project.
Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to just follow that up by stating that I am aware that there are a number of local and regional corporations who have expressed an interest in participating with the Det’on Cho on this project. As part of the negotiations for establishing the contract, what steps is the department taking to ensure a full complement of local subcontractors are included in the Det’on Cho Giant bypass work?
Mr. Speaker, the negotiations will be concluded here shortly, but certainly the Det’on Cho proposal will include a wide variety of local and northern businesses that will help Det’on Cho as they work to construct the realignment of Highway No. 4. They also will need some support in the areas of administration and management and other areas, and we look forward to seeing a finalized negotiation with Det’on Cho that will include that wide array of northern businesses that will help Det’on Cho achieve the work that’s there.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
