Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a follow-up on my Member's statement today here. My questions will be for the Minister of Lands. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain why residents are feeling that their treaty rights are being taken away by having their cabins be considered unauthorized occupancy on their own traditional land? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently in the Northwest Territories there are over 700 structures on land administered by the Government of the Northwest Territories that do not have land tenure. Some of those untenured structures may be associated with an asserted or established Aboriginal or treaty right. Of course, this government respects treaties, and this fall the department is engaging with Indigenous governments and organizations to initiate discussions on respectful and effective ways to identify which of the 700-plus properties, cabins, are rights-based and which are not.
I thank the Minister for that answer. Mr. Speaker, though, we are talking regional, but we are talking about individual cabin owners, so can the Minister advise how cabin owners are being informed about the process to identify what type of occupancy their cabins are on?
As an initial step, we are reaching out to Indigenous governments across the Northwest Territories, and I see there are meetings scheduled to take place in the Nahendeh riding with IGOs on October 22 and 25, 2018. Individual cabin owners should speak to their IGOs or with the regional office if they have questions with respect to their camp or cabin.
I thank the Minister for that answer. Again, government is sloughing on the responsibility. I have asked him: how can we get the government, the Department of Lands, to get that information to the cabin owners? I am not asking about Indigenous governments. I am not asking about process. I am asking him how we are going to get that information to the residents, the ones who are the traditional peoples. The hunters and trappers who are out there are getting notices right now, saying that, you know, you have got to come in. So how are we getting that information to them, just putting a notice up there, posting? That does not seem right.
I would encourage camp and cabin owners to see the regional Lands offices for information relating to their specific cabins. As I say, there are a great number of unauthorized occupancies in the Northwest Territories, and we want to decide which of those are rights-based. We are taking the first steps by engaging with Indigenous governments with respect to this matter. We would encourage individuals to speak to the regional offices regarding their specific cabins and camps.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that answer. However, this is their traditional land, not the Government of the Northwest Territories. This is traditional lands of the First Nations. This is their land. Now, we're sitting here saying they've got to come to the government and explain it? Will the Minister commit to providing the information sheet that we can share with our residents so they can understand the process, not just speaking here in the House but we can get some information out to the residents so we can help them? Right now, they're not unauthorized. They're on their traditional hunting territory. Until I find something different, you know, the government is not responsible for this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, as I said previously, we wish to determine which cabins are unauthorized and which are rights-based. Our initial steps are with Indigenous governments. I'd be pleased to provide some additional information to the Members opposite with respect to the process should they wish. Thank you.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
