Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to miss questioning the Minister responsible for Lands, but I hear this new Minister for Environment and Climate Change has got some great answers for me.
Firstly, Mr. Speaker, I just want to confirm whether we are on track to finish the Public Land Act regulations and get the Public Land Act implemented in the life of this Assembly. I note it's been four years to develop those regulations, and it seems like it's about time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you. I think I'm going to give the same answers the Minister of Lands used to give. So we're working with the IGC process. We're working with our Indigenous government. And so it is a process that we need to respect, and it's going to take a little bit of time but we're trying to make sure we get it right. And so, again, what I'm hoping is to have it done but we still need to respect the IGC process. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think central to that question is whether any changes to how we treat Indigenous cabin holders on public land will be changing. Right now, we're still operating under the same approach largely that we inherited from the federal government. I know there's a lot of different requests of how you could do that, changing the fee structure, the tax structure, even the rules about what is and isn't required to have a lease. Are we going to have any policy changes to how we approach Indigenous cabin holders on public land occur in this government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ECC is working with our Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations across the NWT on our approach to manage potential rightsbased cabins on public land. A new approach must be developed with Indigenous governments and organizations, and those discussions take time. Engagement has started and is ongoing and will continue throughout the summer. ECC is committed to making the improvements, and all this would ideally occur within this life of the government. We need to ensure that we are doing the work respectfully and properly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know also on the list of our policy work for the new department to complete is, you know, figuring out what's going on in the Yellowknife periphery area with our recreational leases. I believe there was plans to, you know, assuming we worked with our partners to get a cabin lottery again for the fall. It's been a number of years, and there was a lot of pent of demand. So are we on track to have a cabin lottery in the North Slave occur this fall? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was hoping that we would have been in a position to have a lottery or ballot draw during the life of this Assembly. However, there are complex issues related to the issuance of new leases in this area that remains unresolved. It is important that we take the time to discuss and make progress on these issues before we conduct another ballot draw. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, that's probably one of the number one questions I get from constituents is what's going on there. I'm wondering at the very least whether we I get there's a consultation process but whether we could get some public information about what we're even considering, how many cabins, where they would be, and kind of the steps of a path forward to whether that could occur. I think there's a lot of demand to know what is going on in this area so any sort of public information would be welcomed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if we can get the information and provide that publicly, we will do that, but I don't want to make a commitment saying we'll get that information if we can't do it legally and that. But we will work to try to get as much information to the Member and now publicly as we can. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
