Thank you, Mr. Chair. And certainly by no means was I implying that the wonderful staff that we have there aren't doing the work now. I'm in touch with them regularly, and certainly we have a good crew there, and I appreciate what they do. And so I will leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is there a willingness in the near future on this department to issue a rights issuance for oil and gas in the territories? Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'd like to pass to the deputy minister.
Thank you. I'll go to the deputy minister.
Certainly it's -- thank you, Mr. Chair. It's been a while since we've done a call for bids. It's always, always open, but, you know, certainly we can try that. In light of the, you know, export LNG opportunity in Inuvik, there could be some interest knowing that that feasibility is very promises. You know, one of the comments we always get is just the infrastructure issue, if anything is, you know, further inland. But, yes, we could definitely look at that. But if we do put that out, we want to be successful. And so, you know, right now nothing stops if a company has interest, they can definitely be applying for those petroleum lands. Thank you, thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thanks for the response to that there, deputy minister. And my other question is that I participated in a virtual led by the Sahtu Renewable Resources Board on the many sumps that -- waste sumps that are out there on the land in the Sahtu. So they're doing an inventory similar to what they did in the Beaufort Delta, and it'll help diversify our economy by creating this clean-up. So I would suggest the department, if they want to reach out to the Sahtu Renewable Resource Board in Tulita, to see how they can help. If you got a big sump that's out there that's left prior to legislation not allowing those anymore, it'll create some winter seasonal access jobs to recap these sumps. By legislation, you need a meter cap on top of these sumps, so you'd be hauling some material there. So that'll be the economics in compliance with the sumps out there. And you have the well watch program with OROGO, so maybe ITI could take a lead in partnership with OROGO to initiate those discussions. Maybe even having a one-on-one meeting in Tulita with the Sahtu Renewable Resource Board. So that's a suggestion.
And getting back to the remediation opportunities that is going to be coming, I would also suggest the department to participate into the opportunities, and maybe even go one step further and updating the report that was done on the remediation economy back in the 19th Assembly, to identify what is not identified in that study or in that report. I think this whole remediation economy is really on the verge of a prosperous project throughout the whole territories.
And to give you an example on the magnitude, the magnitude of the Norman Wells clean-up, it hasn't really been identified to what scale it actually is because there never was a subsurface geotechnical study done. The whole purpose of drafting your scope for clean-up would be to identify the depth in the area of the clean-up itself, and once you know how deep it is and what the surface area is, that'll give you an area of impact as to what the remediation plan should do to address that area. And it's going to be huge. It's going to be huge. And you think we have to prepare for that. As everybody knows it's called a nonrenewable resource for those reasons. It's not renewable. So it's going to require the clean-up. Sure, the Esso -- Esso company has taken a lead role in filing their closure and reclamation plan similar to Diavik, but Diavik seems to be one more step ahead by having collaboration. But it seems like with Imperial, they're not. So maybe this department could help in that area.
And then once the identified opportunities are in place, how do we prepare our workforce for those opportunities? And it seems like, you know, in every jurisdiction of the Northwest Territories, aside from the Sahtu, there is some level of activity there. Like, I respect the fact that Inuvik has a knowledge economy and a research institute, which is very important to the science collected by that office. But that's just an example of what they have, and we don't have, so to speak. So I think we have to -- as the Minister said, we have to look at what we have and where we're going to go and design a scope accordingly to help diversify our economy. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll take that as information. Are there any further questions? Okay, I'm going to go the Member from YK Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to build off in a different direction than my colleague for Inuvik Boot Lake and on the last question or the last matter he raised.
Mr. Chairman, I think in some ways, maybe, the question should be what trigger or what needs to change to reestablish those positions there? Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, right now we're evaluating I guess to start off with what are the immediate needs of the department. The immediate needs right now of the department are to implement the Mineral Resources Act, and the big piece of that is the regulation work. So that is the primary focus and the primary, I guess, driver of funding right now, getting that done is going to be huge for the territory and has a huge focus. But we are constantly assessing what positions are in high demand and high need within the department and ensuring that we can essentially pivot to accommodate those and to accommodate the demands of the territory to make sure we are being responsive in the economic environment that we are currently in. Thank you.
Thank you. Yellowknife Centre Member.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd say thanks for the answer, but I'm not really sure -- I appreciate the answer, but it doesn't really focus on what the issue is, is what needs to change in order to reestablish the position there. All of that work could be done there. So is there something holding back from being able to do that work in Inuvik? Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it's no secret that in this Assembly, there is a huge desire to have conversations about what positions can be placed within communities and outside of the capital city. And that is work that will be done over the course of the next year, and so I can assure the Member that it is a live conversation within the department. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just for the record, how many people are currently working in that office in Inuvik? Because I was there on the weekend. Although it was the weekend, so it was closed, but the sign sticks out like a sore thumb.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. There are five people. Thank you.
Thank you. Yellowknife Centre Member.
And how many people support that office in terms of employment or PYs? Thank you.
I'll go to the Minister.
How many -- well, I would say that a -- everybody works together and supports one another. There's five staff specifically within the mineral resources petroleum sector. Sorry, could the Member be more specific about what exactly he's looking for. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Does the office work in isolation by itself as a nuclear unit, or does it have a support team that it works day to day with, say, like, for example, a specific division in headquarters?
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. And thank you to the Member for the clarification. So the mineral and petroleum resources office that's there has five staff. They work in concert with the mineral and petroleum resources division that is based in Yellowknife, and they also have close working relationships with the regional office as well. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Not intending to hold you to the exact number unless of course you have it, so how many people would that represent? Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
We're looking for then is the number of staff in the Inuvik regional office. The office -- it's the MPR office itself in Inuvik, and that whole division at headquarters as well? Just to clarify, please, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. To the Member for Yellowknife Centre to help clarify that.
Oh, that's okay. I mean, what I'm getting at is there's a big division there, and it seems like five people are there, and they're working with a bunch of people. And I would almost go to say is would the Minister agree that policy and regulations could be worked on, designed, reviewed, and talked about anywhere in the Northwest Territories?
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Mr. Chair, I think I've already identified that this work is already underway. I think the Member knows the answer to his question, and I absolutely value what he is getting at here, and he is getting at that he would like to see more positions in communities, and I understand that. In addition, there's also a remote work policy as well that I hope that we as a government can use. I can also speak to the fact that ITI is also in the process of using that for positions that were traditionally in Yellowknife and people wanted to be able to work from communities, and so I would like to take the opportunity to kind of celebrate them in that respect, that they're willing to work with this policy in order to increase employment outside of Yellowknife as well. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you. Taking off on one of the questions my good colleague from Boot Lake had said, maybe I could clarify, how much oil and gas is being developed in the North Slave region at this particular time?
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as far as I am aware -- and I hope somebody will poke me if I'm wrong, but we don't have any oil and gas in the Yellowknife region.
Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Perhaps in a sentence or two, maybe we could explain why we have such a division -- significant division here in the headquarters region of North Slave if there's nothing being developed from the oil and gas perspective? In a sentence or two. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the -- it's not strictly a oil and gas division. It's mineral resources -- mineral and petroleum resource development. And so they are not strictly focused on petroleum or oil and gas. They are focused on all minerals. We have a total of 29 staff working in the Beaufort Delta out of a total of 104 working at headquarters. But those are total numbers across the board. The 104 also includes our economic development, our corporate management, our tourism and parks people, everybody. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the Member for Boot Lake asked me to ask this next question. For sake and respect of the House, I won't ask it. But I'll let him explain what unicorns mean, I guess. Okay.
Well I'll leave it at that. I mean, the point of the little exercise here for the last eight minutes was really trying to get at the fact that we could do work there. It's symbolic there. The work is there. The oil and gas is there. I think the Minister understands the issue. And I would support us finding ways to put people in those types of regions, including assistant deputy ministers, deputy ministers, and directors. Those positions have a real impact in communities. I mean, by this policy philosophy, I mean, we could wrap all of these jobs up and put them in headquarter, and I'm not fighting for that in any method, but I mean, we could justify them just as simple as that. So I'd say here's a real opportunity to demonstrate you support regions, and this could help. So whatever way they could do, it would be nice not just for the Member of Boot Lake, but I think it helps the diversity of economic opportunity throughout the North. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll take that as a comment. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister tell me when was the last time this was an evaluation done of the mining incentive program. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
