Thank you. Deputy minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We have, on many, many occasions, at the DMC, after meetings with ADMs and the deputies, relayed to Alberta how important this is to the residents of the Northwest Territories and, in particular, Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories. We have asked them to engage with Indigenous governments and with the public on this approach. They have not finalized their engagement process that they're going to use for this. The federal government has said that they will engage with Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories on their process.
We have also brought forward that we would like them to provide us with some messaging that they feel comfortable with that we can make public because they have asked us at this point to keep our responses technical and government to government right now, and we've expressed that there will need to be information provided on what this looks like. And they have said that they will work with us and understand that needs to happen once the review process has occurred. So I'll just reiterate we have asked them that when they if they decide to go forward with the regulatory process after they've completed this that it involves public and engagement with Indigenous peoples in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Yeah, thanks for that. Look, I think I understand a little bit of the complexity of all this stuff. But if we're submitting stuff, why can't we post that to an ENR web page and let the public know what we're doing. The other guys, they can do whatever they want; they can keep secrets; they can, you know, have misunderstandings about what information they share with us. But why can't we post the submissions, these peer reviews that are being done, on an ENR web page so the public and Indigenous governments know what we're doing? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
I would turn to the deputy minister so she can give you the correct answer. Thank you.
Thank you. Deputy minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. These reports are confidential, and the only way that they would share them with us was that our responses were confidential until the report is completed and they've been able to do the analysis. So they're sciencebased reports and they're confidential reports. We were able to access them through the transboundary agreement and have the ability to provide comments. And at this point in time, Alberta's keeping that confidential. And as I mentioned, we've expressed to them the need to make sure that this information becomes public and that Indigenous governments are aware of the findings. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Okay, thanks, Madam Chair. If I wasn't concerned before, now I'm really worried that all of this stuff is happening in secret behind closed doors. This is not good. And I'm not sure we should even be participating in that kind of process. That is very upsetting that look, good that we're getting experts; we're doing our homework to look at this. But if all of this stuff is happening behind closed doors and is being kept secret and we're only going to find out about it if Alberta decides they're going to do a regulation, that's not a good place to be. So I don't know, Minister or sorry, Madam Chair, I think the Minister needs to raise this on Thursday with the Alberta environment minister that this is just a totally unacceptable process, for us spending taxpayers' money doing all of this stuff in secret, not telling our people what we're doing. This is wrong. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
I'll start, and then I'll turn to the deputy minister. So we will have the conversation. I can guarantee that Alberta government is listening to what's happening and has been listening to it. I can because soon as we reached out to the minister's office, the staff were reaching out to our staff right away. But for the process, I know the Member's not happy with the process but at least we're getting the information. But for detail, I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.
Thank you. Deputy minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This is Alberta's engagement process, and they're engaging internally within Alberta on whether they're going to do regs or not. And through our transboundary process, we were able to get access and have the opportunity to provide input. Their process at this time is confidential and from our standpoint, we most certainly want to take part in this process because we're able to see these reports as they're being drafted; we get to provide input from an NWT perspective and be clear right from the getgo what the NWT's perspective is. Once the regulations are being contemplated, if the regulations are being contemplated, because Alberta's been clear with us that they haven't made that decision yet, we have been very clear at multiple levels that there needs to be public and Indigenous engagement on this issue in the NWT. They are committed to doing that in Alberta. And as I mentioned, the federal government will be engaging with Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories and Alberta. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Here I know that with the contaminated site it's under the environment protection and waste management. So last year it was near budgeted 344. I just I want to know how much is allocated for the contaminated sites this year?
Thank you. Minister.
For that detail, I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.
Thank you. Deputy minister.
Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Can the Member tell us what page she's on. Thank you.
Thank you.
All of the funding that ENR has for contaminated sites would be under environmental protection and waste management. But it should be noted that the Government of the Northwest Territories has an environmental liability fund, and so when there's remediation work that is being done, that's where the money to do some of the remediation work comes from. So it's not just in this place where you would see the contaminated sites budget. Other departments also have funding to do work on their own contaminated sites. But that environmental liabilities fund is where, for example, ENR would go to look for additional funding for Canol Trail, for example, or other sites that we're looking at. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Monfwi.
Yeah, the reason why I ask about that is because there's a lot of contaminated sites in the NWT and there are still you know, a lot of people are still concerned, you know, especially if it's in their backyard. We have oil and gas. We have uranium. We have the Giant Mine. Now with mining that's expected to close. So I'm just wondering if this was enough. The money that you're you know, it's for remediation, you said that. So how much of that is going to be for, like for the employment and for or is it for positions more? Is more going for the position or for the clean up?
Thank you. Minister.
For that detail, I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.
Thank you. Deputy minister Kelly.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So there's a variety of types of contaminated sites in the NWT. Some of them are still the federal government's responsibility, and they're paying to do the remediation of those sites. Some of them, it's a partnership between the GNWT and the federal government, like the Giant Mine Remediation Project that you spoke of. Some of them are sites that are the responsibility of different GNWT departments, and those departments would have budget to remediate those sites. At ENR, some of them would be related to fire activity,f for example, firefighting activity. That would be one example. We also have some other contaminated sites that we're responsible for. The money that you would see here is people who are doing work on contaminated sites mostly at the policy level and also who are running some of the contracts to hire people to go and do the contaminated sites work. And often those would be funded through the environmental liabilities fund that I mentioned.
Thank you, deputy minister. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. Yeah, for the position, I see here because we're still on the environmental management and monitoring climate, and for the active position, there's nothing in Tlicho region on page 85, but North Slave has two, and headquarters they have 66. So why there is nothing allocated in Tlicho region?
Thank you. Minister.
For that detail, I'll turn to the deputy minister.
Thank you. Deputy minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So this is these are position listings for all of the folks that do water and environmental protection work in the and climate change and cumulative impacts in the department. And if you can see there's the two in the North Slave, those are folks that are doing it for the North Slave region and that includes the Tlicho, the way that the North Slave region is set up. So there are two folks that are doing that work regionally, and then the headquarters staff are also supporting work all over the territory. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Monfwi.
So this North Slave position, it's located in Yellowknife or in Tlicho region?
Thank you. Minister.
For that detail, deputy minister.
Deputy minister Kelly.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The positions are located in Yellowknife.
Member for Monfwi.
Yeah, those are important positions for our community because for in our regions, we have a lot of contaminated sites. We have a lot of issues. So it would be nice if we can have will the Minister commit to transferring these two positions to Tlicho region? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you. No, that's for all of the North Slave. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Monfwi.
Did he say it's for all of the Northwest Territories or North Slave, the two position that I'm talking about?
Thank you. Minister.
