Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to continue my questions to the Minister of ITI. Mr. Speaker, I’ve recently received some information that the Mactung, the tungsten mine at the border of the proposed CANOL Park, is going to go into some environmental hearings in terms of starting up the tungsten mine. This tungsten mine is one of the world’s largest tungsten deposits in the world and this is the start of the CANOL Heritage Trail. I want to ask the Minister what is his department doing to ensure that this piece of property, this part of the CANOL Heritage Trail or CANOL Park is protected in terms of the wishes of the Sahtu people.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve had the opportunity to visit the Mactung site this summer, along with the Member, and it was quite impressive. As the Member knows, all of the work that is being done on the Mactung site is on the Yukon side of the border. Having said that, I think there are opportunities to access that mine through the Northwest Territories, and we are well aware of the CANOL Park and we’re very prepared to work with the Sahtu to help develop that park. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To access the Mactung Mine on the Yukon side, they have to drive from the Yukon into the Northwest Territories to get to the Mactung Mine. I wanted to ask the Minister in terms of the time frame in terms of transferring this piece of jurisdiction over to the territorial government for the Sahtu and the people of the Northwest Territories to have this park. I’m asking the Minister in terms of the time frame, because the notices have gone out to open up the Mactung Mine here. Can the Minister outline a time frame as to when this transfer will happen to see the new establishment of this park here?
The main thing that’s holding up the establishment of the park is the transfer of lands from the federal government to the territorial government. Those lands are such that a significant amount of work has to be done to clean up some of the environmental issues associated with this park. So we have been working with the Sahtu people and the federal government to clean up some of the areas. So until such time as the land is transferred, it’s very difficult for us to make the transfer or the establishment of the park proceed faster. Thank you.
That’s what I’m afraid of in terms of the Mactung. If they go ahead, if they get the go-ahead to mine their deposit on the Yukon side, they are going to use the Northwest Territories side as a transportation corridor. I’d like to ask the Minister what type of alternative plans does he have in regard to having protection. We know this is a proposed park that was negotiated with the Sahtu Dene and Metis in 1993 and that we want this to happen. We don’t want to see any damage to this piece of property here. So we ask the Minister what is he prepared to do to work with the Sahtu to make sure this land is protected before establishment of the park.
We are looking at ways to try to improve some of the existing infrastructure that’s there so that the Mactung can use or perhaps see fit to use the road and airport that is there now. I think in order to do that, we need to find a way to upgrade what’s being used as an airport. Right now it’s just the CANOL Road that was built 40 years ago and they’re using that to land on and the road that’s being used was built in 1945. So we’re very prepared to work with the Sahtu people, because we think there are some economic opportunities there and we think if we improve the airport and the road even a little bit, that it will help develop Mactung as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final and short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, that’s why I asked the Minister earlier is he prepared to work in partnership with the Sahtu in terms of monitoring the access of this road and the airport. There’s going to be lots of development. Is the Minister again willing to come to the Sahtu, sit down with the Sahtu leaders in terms of how do we limit some restrictions of vehicle usage in that area to protect our land?
We’re quite prepared to come into the Sahtu region. What the Member is starting to talk about is petty trespass and we don’t have a petty trespass act in the Northwest Territories. So the lands that have been selected by the Sahtu and the federal lands that are out there are something that we’re quite prepared to talk to the Sahtu people about, but this is an area where we don’t have any legislation as of yet. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
