Thank you, Madam Speaker. We have asked the people of the NWT to give up a lot here since March, and I am going to ask some questions on resource development. However, I think that, when we think about non-renewable resource development, we think of the diamond mines. I think that, with what people have had to go through, we should give them all a diamond when this is over. That will help our resource sector, as well. Madam Speaker, we seem to not appreciate the non-renewable resource sector until we start to see it disappear. This sector is not only important but is essential to the growth and development of the NWT. Knowing COVID-19 is impacting all economic sectors, can the Minister of ITI confirm if and how the department is working and supporting the non-renewable sector? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of ITI.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I think there is a sort of general rule that I am not supposed to run down the clock, but I could easily talk about the resource sector for 20 minutes. I won't do that, Madam Speaker. The mineral resource sector is, I would say continues to be, extremely important. It's still the foundation of the economy here from the private sector and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.
There are quite a number of things that are happening right now in the Department of ITI to support that sector. For example, there have been quite a number of active conversations just in the last several weeks with federal counterparts as well as with the territorial Ministers also responsible. The territorial Ministers are all aligned that we need more geoscience in the North, for the North, and built in the North in order to actually help make our tremendous amount of resources accessible and to help make people aware of them around the world. There are a lot of conversations about critical minerals and strategic minerals. There is a task force that has been developed on a national level, and we want to have an active role in it to make sure that we are one of the jurisdictions where critical minerals and strategic minerals have a real place.
There is obviously, as well, remediation, Madam Speaker. There is a huge amount of funding that was announced for some of the provinces in that regard, but it's an area where we have a number of shovel-ready projects. Hopefully, we will be able to participate with that area of funding. As a part of COVID-19, there has been a working group developed with the Chamber of Mines, and we are continuing to work with them to identify whether there are gaps in areas where we can help provide more direct relief.
Another major area, I am happy to speak about it here, is with respect to regional mineral development strategies. This is where funding is provided directly to Indigenous governments for them to develop their own regional strategies. This is such a tremendous opportunity for regional development and for strategies that are really meaningful for each region of the Northwest Territories that can then feed into a bigger strategy. I think that is a good overview, Madam Speaker, and I am sure there will be more questions so that I can speak to more things. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
As time progresses, our government, along with federal government, continues to tighten regulations that make the non-renewable resource sector reluctant to work in the NWT. Can the Minister confirm what the department is hearing from the non-renewable sector with respect to barriers causing their reluctance to consider the NWT as a place to do business? What are we doing to deal with that reluctance?
A lot of the barriers here are not new, nor are they unique to the Northwest Territories. They are barriers that are experienced across northern Canada, certainly. That is including the high costs of operating here, both in terms of the initial exploration and then in terms of developing a profitable mine site. There are also some concerns that continue to be raised, of course, around uncertainty and the benefits and importance of having certainty in the regulatory system.
Fortunately, Madam Speaker, we are taking some good steps to advance in dealing with some of those barriers. For example, the Mineral Resources Act regulations are actively being worked on right now, and that will allow the Mineral Resources Act to be implemented here in the Northwest Territories. There is a socio-economic review, which is of course a big part of what supports the mineral resource sector in terms of providing their certainty when they are engaging here in the Northwest Territories. The Mining Incentive Program, Madam Speaker, is another one where there have already been some modifications to reduce the amount of equity required from industry when it's participating and also to increase the funding that is available. Of course, then there are a number of strategic and infrastructure investments that are being looked at, indeed, in part of the capital planning process that we are looking at this session.
It is important that this government, the Indigenous peoples, northern businesses and residents receive benefits from any and all resource development. Can the Minister confirm what is being done to strengthen our socio-economic agreements and to support those IBAs entered into with Indigenous peoples in industry?
Of course, the IBAs themselves are confidential themselves as between the industry proponents and the Indigenous governments themselves, but by continuing to be engaged with both Indigenous governments as well as with the industry, we're certainly able to help navigate the development and the strengthening of all of those levels of cooperation and collaboration. I'll go back to what I had mentioned earlier, which is the development of regional mineral development strategies which helps give a voice to individual regions so that they can better finetune what it is they want to see out of the mineral resources sector. As I mentioned earlier, we are going to review the socio-economic agreements. That work, as I say, I think is just only beginning now internally but with a view to having that done in the near future.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. The renewable resources sector provides real benefits to the NWT. Can the Minister confirm that the department is supporting working or cooperating with NWT Chamber of Mines to encourage mineral exploration development, and also when all our residents can expect their diamonds? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Yes. I'm happy to confirm again, as I said, that the Department of ITI has engaged a technical working group with Chamber of Mines, grew out of the need to respond to COVID-19, but it's been an opportunity to have that conversation on a direct level. I expect that that will continue. As to receiving the diamonds, Madam Speaker, I think I'll have to take that under advisement. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
