Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ECC. Can the Minister update this Assembly on the latest situation with Suncor reporting runoff water testing above compliance parameters, which include rough timelines as to when more information will be available and if residents downstream from this incident in the South Slave region have to take any precautions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on June 9th, Suncor was notified that a routine preliminary lab test results on one of the discharge ponds was outside the company approval parameters. As a result of this, there was a notification that was identified through our transboundary water agreement. And the current situation as we are -- additional testing is underway to validate the original test results, and we anticipate that we should receive those slowly and they will be shared once available. And at this time, no additional action is required from residents downstream of the release. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 1998, the Mackenzie Valley Risk Management Act was created, which gave way to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board and Mackenzie Valley Impact Review Board. In the Yukon, they have the YESAB board, in Nunavut they have the NIRB board. Alberta, they have the Environment and Protection and Enhancement Act and the Alberta Water Act.
Mr. Speaker, my question will be is can the Minister work with the federal government to work on new legislation to protect residents in the Northwest Territories as downstream users from the development in Alberta? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is currently work being done within Alberta and with the federal minister from ECCC in regards to guiding regulations around release of tailings waters from the oil sands projects, and the Department of Environment and Climate Change is engaged in those discussions at this time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At what point in time are we going to start continuing to get more information like this as downstream users here in Northwest Territories? In my riding, we have high cancer rates and we got to figure a way this one out where Alberta consults with the Government of the Northwest Territories. We already do it through an agreement we have with Alberta, and we do it through the impact review board, but at the same time Alberta doesn't include us in their approval process as they go through the environment assessment for those projects. So I'm wondering can we continue to build new relationships with the Government of Canada to build new legislation to oversee the -- to make sure that our interests and the downstream users in Northwest Territories are protected? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, that work is currently underway both at the federal level as well as within the province of Alberta. There were questions that were raised by the Government of the Northwest Territories through Environment and Climate Change to which we've had responses from the Alberta government in relation to release of water from the tailings ponds. We're currently evaluating some of the responses and will be continuing that conversation on those proposed changes to legislation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of ECC. Final supplementary. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now that they got this notice from Alberta and it's coming to the hands of you as a Minister and sharing it with the House here today, how do we prevent further spills like this in Alberta and what can we do different on the interim basis until new legislation comes in? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, we don't have control over activities that happen within Alberta. I'm very pleased to stand up and say that the transboundary water agreement that Alberta and the Northwest Territories have was activated, as outlined within that agreement, so the notification was timely. In response to that notification by the Department of Environment and Climate Change, we responded quickly to get that information out to the Indigenous governments as well as the communities across the Northwest Territories, and we will continue to relay that information as updates come to the department to ensure that everyone is kept up to speed, and if there are any significant changes, there will be that notification. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
