Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Right now, we have positions in each of the regions trying to address this. Right now, the funding is going to be sunsetted, I believe, next year. At that point in time, we will have to come back to FMB to make our submissions, and to committee, on it. Right now, we are not going to get it all done in the next year, but as we further progress moving forward, I can't give him an exact date, but the idea is to have it done within this Assembly. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I am a bit worried about that. Can we get a commitment out of the Minister -- I saw some of these, I think, in the last Assembly -- to get quarterly updates from the Minister on the progress that's being made in this program? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. That's one of the best words I've heard here today. I want to move on to diamond resource management. That's on page 305. We actually had a high of $643,000 back in 2018-2019, and now, this year, it's proposed for $596,000. I think that this is the, basically, staffing of, I may not get the titles right, but lands inspectors to go up and inspect the diamond mines. These are huge operations; I've been there myself to all of them, except for Gahcho Kue. They're very complex areas, and I am sure the ADM has been up there himself and seen these areas, some of them are starting to close. Parts of them are starting to close. There are closure plans that are being changed, I know, for Ekati Mine. Snap Lake is in closure. We don't want to inherit any liability associated with these. We have seen that during the life of this government with Cameron Hills. What kind of assurance can I get from the Minister and his department that we actually have the right level of resources here to make sure that these properties are closed properly and we don't inherit liability? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Lands.
Thank you. I understand. Cameron Hills, we look at that. We are learning from that. Right now, we have securities in place. Our inspectors are identified strictly for those mines. We are doing a really good job of addressing it. We are working with the diamond mine, making sure we don't have this situation as Cameron Hills. Cameron Hills was something that we inherited previously. We are working on these mines with our regulatory process. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes. We inherited management of the diamond mines, as well. The Minister knows that. I am not making any comparison between what the diamond mines do, because they are large corporate entities that have lots of resources still attached to them. I know how hard our inspectors work. This has nothing to do with the inspectors. They do a fantastic job. I just want to make sure that we have the right level of resources to get the job done. How do we determine what our needs are? Is there any kind of needs assessment, any examination of this gap? I know you folks have some kind of a risk management matrix or framework that was floated around in the last Assembly. I guess I just want to have a little bit more assurance that there is some systematic review of what the resource needs are to make sure that we are doing the best possible job to protect the taxpayers and the environment. What kind of rational process does the department go through to look at how they calculate what the $596,000 is based on? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to ask the assistant deputy minister to convince Mr. O'Reilly that we are doing the best we can to address this challenge. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Baetz.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think one of the important things to keep in mind is that, as diamond mines grow from infancy all the way through to their full production all the way through to their full closure, the mine themselves as well as the government, which is our Department of Lands, work very closely with the Environment and Natural Resources to ensure that the appropriate closure reclamation plans are in place. That is one of the really key elements that I think is critical to ensuring that the diamond mines, as they wind down, wind down in an orderly fashion and don't just pull up stakes and be gone and left somebody holding the bag or even being able to draw down security. Somebody still has to manage that kind of a final closure reclamation.
The plans that the diamond mines are under the close scrutiny of the GNWT as well as, probably, our partners, the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Boards, are very thorough, very detailed. There are legal requirements for the companies to make sure that they adhere to them. As a diamond mine closes down, part of these plan are: how are they going to continue to monitor into the future. Our inspectors continue to make sure that they are out there on as regular a basis as they were when the mine was in production or when the mine was being built to make sure that any of the requirements of the closure reclamation or any requirements of a water licence or any requirements of a land-use permit are fully adhered to and fully complied with. That is, in a nutshell, how we determine whether or not the mines are winding down in an appropriate fashion and are seeing the appropriate amount of oversight. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Baetz. Are there any further questions for this section? Seeing no further questions, please turn to page 305. Lands, operations, operation expenditure summary, 2020-2021 Main Estimates, $12,113,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to planning and coordination, beginning on page 307 with information items on 310 to 312. Questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Completion of land-use plans in collaboration with all Aboriginal governments was a mandate of the last Assembly, which, once again, was not fulfilled by this department. What level of confidence does the Minister have that we will have complete land-use plans in the life of this Assembly?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, can I get Acting Assistant Deputy Minister Terry Hall to come sit at the table and switch with Assistant Mr. Baetz?
Sergeant-at-Arms, would you escort the witness out and Mr. Hall in. Minister of Lands.
Thank you. I am going to give it a short answer, then I am going to turn it to Mr. Hall. It is a very complicated process. Again, there are a lot of moving parts. We would like to have these plans done by this Assembly. However, as moving parts come, we may not get it completed and our workload right now. At this point in time, I would ask Mr. Hall to further provide more information.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Hall.
Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Minister stated, land-use plans, we would very much like to have them completed as soon as possible. As the Minister stated, we are not the only party to the land-use planning process. It is a partnership between us, the Government of Canada, and, most importantly, Indigenous governments. In that type of process, we don't get to dictate the specific timelines, but we are working to complete plans across the NWT. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you Mr. Hall. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I recognize the Department of Lands has a lot of work to do and there is a lot of complication in land administration. My question is: I would really like to see a land-use plans for all Indigenous governments during the life of this Assembly. Does the department have the sufficient resources to do that right now?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We agree with the Member. We want it done in this Assembly. Right now, our funds allow us the ability to get as much work done as we can. Dealing with this, if everything lines up, yes, we do have enough funds right now to address the workload that we have presently. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to speak now to securities and project assessment. Can the Minister of Lands tell me how much the Department of Lands holds in total securities?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Lands.
Thank you. I apologize for the delay. The government has, right now, $649,114,421.47. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I just clarify that $649,000,000, those are the securities held by the Department of Lands, and that doesn't also include those under water licences, ENR?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Lands.
That there is what the GNWT has together, like ENR and Lands. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Perhaps if I could get the Minister to provide me a breakdown of what is held versus Lands and ENR? I will have questions on this when we get to speak to the Minister of ENR about the overlapping role of securities administration in those departments.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Lands.
Thank you. For Lands, what we hold right now is $89,573,416.47 for the Department of Lands. ENR's total is $559,541,005. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Will the Minister of Lands commit to reviewing the Project Assessment Policy and to clarify the department's role in project assessments in relation to the work that ENR does as well?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Madam Chair. It's a relatively new policy, so we can come back to committee. I am not going to make a commitment, but I will make a commitment that we will come back to committee to have further conversations on this. Like I said, it's a relatively new policy. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess my reason for requesting it is because securities administration in the GNWT, as we have seen with Cameron Hills, as we've seen with other departments, it seems to be all over the place in this kind of patchwork process. Will the Minister of Lands pursue a consolidated system to responsibly manage all of our securities, identify securities by project, and guarantee timely postings -- this is multiple questions. Madam Chair, will the Department of Lands conduct a review of all the securities in the GNWT and look to set out one coherent policy for the GNWT?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We are presently working with OROGO and ENR and Lands on this. We have already started the process to streamline or try to make sure we do it properly. We are also, I think, maybe, can say that the project assessment function, we're also working on that as well presently. I think that was your previous question, so I was able to clarify that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
