Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also have questions today for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources in regard to my opening Member’s statement on the Peel River watershed and the Peel River itself. I want to ask the Minister what is the department’s position in this cause to protect the Peel. What is the department’s position on this? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back in 1997 there was a transboundary master agreement signed between a number of jurisdictions: the federal government, the territorial government, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon. One of the conditions in that agreement was that there were supposed to be bilaterals negotiated between all of the jurisdictions. We are hard at work and very close to completing our negotiations with Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C.
The only bilateral that exists is the one between us and the Yukon government, and I’ve been in recent discussions with the Minister of Yukon about the need to update and modernize that bilateral agreement. That whole agreement is focused on integrated watershed management; in this case, where the Peel is. So we’re working with the Yukon government to make sure that we have the proper agreements in place. We’ve indicated and asked the Minister from the Yukon that we should call a meeting to review this bilateral arrangement. We’ve suggested that this meeting take place in Fort McPherson. The first choice of the Yukon government would be to modernize the agreement.
So in that regard, we are very concerned and involved in things that are happening in the Peel. We have staff up there that are involved on a day-to-day basis. So we are paying very close attention across the territory to issues with water in all of the basins and sub-basins. Thank you.
Thank you. I guess the Minister pretty well summed up most of the questions that I was going to ask him.
In terms of this meeting, is there a timeline that’s been specified on when this meeting will happen, because there’s a lot of interested groups, not only the Gwich’in people, but there’s a lot of interested groups that are supporting this campaign. Can the Minister please let me know when this meeting might be taking place if there’s a timeline for that? Thank you.
Thank you. We agree that there is a lot of work and we acknowledge and recognize there’s a lot of interest in terms of what’s happening in the Peel on our side of the border, but also what’s happening on the western side in the Yukon. So we’ve put in that request. I indicated, in part of my previous answer, that the response from the Yukon government is yes, they know, and they do want to meet, but they would like to have some preliminary discussions about how do we modernize and update the transboundary agreement. So we’re working with them on that. But I will make sure that we keep the Member and all other Members apprised as we move forward on that issue.
At the same time, we are there on the ground with our staff and we’ve had our own discussions with the Gwich’in government about their concerns and things we have to do together. We have to recognize that a lot of the activity that’s of concern happens in another jurisdiction, which is a really good case in point why we need that bilateral agreement. Thank you.
Thank you. In terms of modernizing the agreement, when can we see a copy of that agreement once it’s in draft form, and is the Gwich’in and the other three Aboriginal groups that are affected in the Peel River watershed, will they have some input into this agreement? Thank you.
Thank you. As we’ve done our work, first with the Water Strategy – Northern Voices, Northern Water – we have, at every step of the way, worked with the Aboriginal governments. We have an Aboriginal Steering Committee with representatives from the Aboriginal governments that have been working with us both in the development of the Water Strategy as well as being involved in the negotiations and providing oversight on that very complex process.
The Alberta agreement, which is nearing completion, there will be about a 90 percent similarity between the key points and elements that are being negotiated in Alberta as there will be in the Yukon agreement. So as we come forward with the Alberta agreement, of course it will be coming back to the Assembly, to the committees, to the public. We’ll review it with the Aboriginal governments. That will give you a very clear example or indication of what we’re looking at as we renew and renegotiate the agreement with the Yukon government. There will be very specific parts that are germane only to the Peel and to the relationship between the Yukon and the Northwest Territories as it pertains to water.
So that information will hopefully be coming available in the next few months as we conclude our agreements with Alberta. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
