Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is a follow-up on my Member’s statement regarding the issues out at Prelude Lake and the dangerous proliferation of unauthorized ice roads and the difficulty people are having navigating on it with their snowmobiles.
What regulations are in place to control and regulate the building of ice roads on NWT lakes, to make sure that roads are built and used rationally and safely for both people and the land? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Lands, Mr. McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure what the regulations are. I would have to check with the Department of Transportation because I’m not quite sure what the regulations are. So, I will commit to working with Transportation and see what those regulations are and share that information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Sorry for the confusion there. I should have stipulated Minister McLeod. I have been working with Minister McLeod on this and still some questions remain, but I understand that in fact we don’t have regulations, but I’ll wait for that to be confirmed.
People are being injured on Prelude Lake travelling to their cabins and homes by snowmobile because of the six-foot concrete-hard berms associated with roads that have appeared overnight and are basically chaotically placed on the lake.
I’m wondering what this Minister proposes to do before this issue arises again next winter as a land use issue, to regulate the building of private ice roads and ensure that Prelude Lake is safe for snowmobiling, both for recreational and commuting travel. Mahsi.
We will work with the Department of Transportation and ENR. I think we’ve already formed a working group, and we will attempt to find some resolution to this issue before next winter. In my correspondence with the Member, and conversations with the Member, he has been pointing out that it is getting to be quite an issue around some of the lakes with all the trails that are being made there. So, I’ll work closely with my colleagues and we’ll see if we can put a plan into place before the next winter season.
I appreciate the fast work of the Minister. The Minister recently held public meetings about recreational leasing regulations in several communities. This was a good initiative and I applaud it. Presumably, access roads on land and ice would be part and parcel of any new rules regulating what may or may not be done by people holding recreational leases.
Did the Minister hear any references or concerns from the participants in these meetings about the building of ice or land roads to their leases, or casual users of the common concerns about interference from roads? Mahsi.
I have not heard personally, but I haven’t had an opportunity to review some of the comments that came back. But I would assume it would be a concern of a lot of residents out there, especially with so many people getting out on the land now and the ability to make trails to these lands. I know, back where I’m from, we have a few trails out to some of the cabins out there. There aren’t as many as around here because of the higher usage here. But I will review that, and again, I will relay that information on to the Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Devolution legislation has not been reviewed at all by people as being referred to as having northern tools and things like that. We’ve heard “devolve” and “evolve.” Perhaps we should have “revolve.”
There seems to be a few legislative gaps in our Lands legislation that needs filling. Despite promises from our Premier, serious review will only occur when departments take it on. A new department in a supposedly democratic government guided by legislation with absolutely no vetting from the citizenry, that’s the Department of Lands.
When will the Minister begin the consultative process to make inherited legislation relevant, that the people of the Northwest Territories were promised, in a way that people were promised? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, that will happen. On the Lands side of it, we’ve inherited the Territorial Lands Act, which is a huge piece of work. We also are working with the Commissioner’s Lands Act that we had worked with previously. That is a huge undertaking, and I can commit to the Member and all Members of this House that that work, I think, in the life of this government anyway will have to do the initial work. The bigger piece is going to have to be done, I think, in the 18th Assembly, to amalgamate those two acts. It’s a huge undertaking, but it’s one that we’re aware of and one that has been brought to our attention, and the work is going to get started on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
