Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the adaptation funding is spread out across many activities, primarily being funded through the forest management activity. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. Thank you. That's it for this part, for this section. Thank you.
Member for the Sahtu.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just looking at the business plan here and similar to what I had mentioned to the Department of Infrastructure as we conclude the budget season in preparation for the summer student employment season, would the Minister provide a summer student plan and appendix to the business plan here in the coming weeks, coming months, so that our students could have something to look forward to within this department? Thank you.
Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to the Member for the question. Yeah, certainly happy to provide that information to all the Members. I think over the years, the summer student program has been a real integral part of the success of the wildfire program across the NWT. Last year, as an example, we had 40 students hired. So hopefully we have the ability to increase that number a little bit, and happy to report back to the Member. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for the Sahtu.
Thank you, Madam Chair. No, I'm encouraged by those numbers, and we always look forward to try to do our best. But I'm glad to hear the Minister is on student summer hiring. Mahsi.
Seeing no further questions, please turn to page 88.
Environment and Climate Change, environmental management, monitoring and climate change, operations expenditure summary, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $23,368,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to policy and strategic planning, beginning on page 92 with information items on page -- are there any questions? Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, and I'm assuming I can -- this is the proper activity to bring this up in. My questions are around some transfer of lands in the -- specifically for this one in the Inuvialuit settlement region.
I note that in the information items there is obviously the land claim implementation funding of $5.4 million, and I'm wondering if as part of that, you know, what the department is doing to make it less difficult, I guess, for Indigenous organizations, specifically in the Inuvialuit settlement region, for IRC to access lots in the communities that they can then use to build houses on. From what I understand, there's some difficulties there, and I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to that. Thank you.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the department manages and maintains the inventory of public land so that it is available for application to any party and for any purpose. The department is not able to identify which of these parcels or areas are suitable for housing so within the -- within the communities, it's a little bit difficult to predetermine, but we're certainly working toward trying to prioritize those issues. And I'll pass to the deputy minister to provide a little bit more detail. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Deputy minister Jenkins.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, a very important issue, and one that we are prioritizing, we've been having conversations with different communities about their land interests, and communities are starting to identify areas that they would like advanced, in particular areas they'd like to look at in terms of housing. There are a number of requirements, of course, that we are required to undertake. In terms of a transferring land, surveys, you know, having the appropriate bylaws in place, community plans and, you know, any consultation processes. But we prioritized a number of housing applications. We are working with Housing NWT in that regard, and we are trying to move this file forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you for that. Yeah, I mean, obviously it's difficult. Land is -- you know, in the smaller communities, and specifically in the coastal communities, you know, there's not a lot of lots there, and as we're aware of, the Indigenous governments, certainly in my region, have received a significant amount of funding to put housing in these communities, as well as the larger centres of course, but in the smaller communities as well. So it's so important that they get as streamlined as possible working with the department to ensure that they can get -- acquire some of that land that obviously is next to their borders, I guess, the communities that they're trying to develop in.
The deputy minister mentioned some of the surveying. And I know kind of to switch over to bulk land transfer as well, which I know other colleagues here, I'm sure, will speak to, but, you know, given the municipalities and the interest, again, around getting the bulk land transfer done -- and it's not the first time we've discussed that. We're talked about the administrative burden, I guess, and the cost of land surveys which, you know, for smaller hamlets and municipalities would become significant, and I'm wondering what -- you know, is there more -- you know, are we seeing enough concentrated effort, I guess, or concrete efforts to transfer the lands to municipalities so that they can use that land. So kind of what's the department doing to kind of ease that burden on them a little, maybe look at doing, whether that's drone surveys or doing a -- you know, a survey of, you know, all the land at once rather than trying to parcel it out to make it a little less expensive, and is the department willing to work with the municipalities to ensure that they get, again, this important land transfer over so they can use it for economic development, for building homes, for whatever the case may be, but certainly give it to the people that know best what to do with it. So thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you for the question. I think a lot of work is being done currently to engage communities to address and have them identify what their priorities are. It's certainly been raised that the surveying challenge is not only a financial challenge, but there's also a capacity challenge within the NWT to do that type of work. So as we've been moving along and working with the different communities in this regard, we have, you know, been having conversations about other potential paths forward that we could work with with the communities, and I think as you look at a lot of the smaller communities have a much larger challenge to move forward in this area than some of the larger ones. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Yeah, and, you know, even the larger ones. And the challenge, obviously, in the larger ones may not be as much the cost. Again, if we could do this as a -- if you look at doing it as a bulk transfer rather than look at having to take specific portions and survey it out or section it out. I mean, again, you can easily identify what is in the municipal boundaries and can be done. It can be done as one massive survey. And I think if the department would at least commit to looking at that option, and maybe providing some assistance to the municipalities to kind of help them -- help them along to get that done, it would go a long way. I know, you know, my community of Inuvik, certainly I understand there is correspondence coming through to the Minister from the municipality of Inuvik to suggest just that, to say, look, it's time with -- you know, communities have opportunities that may be federal opportunities in there. For example, I use the Inuvik satellite station facility where, you know, that land had to be transferred from the Commissioner's land to the community so then they can therefore enter into a deal with the federal government to put that station there. So, you know, it took a while, and fortunately for us, it still -- it didn't cancel the project, and we still got to do it. But things like that are happening and often happening fairly quickly and, you know, to be able to move on that land as quickly as possible. Obviously if you own it, it's much easier to do that. So I appreciate the department is live to it, and I would hope that they're going to be not just -- you know, I'd like to be proactive and not just kind of yes, I know municipalities have to bring forward the request, but to work closer with the Association of Communities and with the municipalities themselves to get this bulk land transfer. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you to the Member for the comment. I think that that sort of goes back to my previous comment about, you know, us talking and speaking with communities about their needs and sort of what their priorities are. And part of that goes back to the consultation process that we would go through with the local Indigenous governments, the land use component of that land within municipalities still needs to be identified, so that's part of the overall conversation that we've been having as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.
The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Yes, and I appreciate that. And I appreciate it's different in every region. I appreciate some areas have settled land claims, some don't. Allocations have been made and some -- most in some areas, and some areas they haven't. So I know there are other complications but certainly happy to hear that they're working towards it. And, again, for the larger municipalities, to me it seems there should be a much easier process to at least get that portion done and focused then on the smaller ones as well. But no further -- no question there, Madam Chair, no further comments on the section. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Next, I will go to the Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to put a little bit of a spotlight on the item for conservation planning and sustainable livelihood but specifically sustainable livelihoods.
In the department's business plan, there is quite a lot of focus and a lot of measures around how we are managing the success of our community harvesting and trapping, all of these really fantastic programs that are aimed -- and according to the department's business plan -- to address the effects of trauma but, you know, also to help bolster people's connection to the land and getting out on the land.
Can the Minister please explain, then, if there's so many ways to measure the effectiveness of these programs, why the dollar amount for this line item has gone down? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'll pass it to director St. Arnaud. Thank you.
Director St. Arnaud.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The decrease is solely because of the conservation planning and the federal agreements that we have for some of those area that have sunset in 2025-2026. They are currently being renegotiated. So, again, you'll see that in the next main estimates. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And that's good to hear we're not taking money or dollars away from those really crucial programs and the good work that they do. I know they're very popular in all of our regions, and it's good to see them continue and to be so carefully evaluated for their success. It's a really good success story for the department.
My next question on this section is specifically around legislative initiatives. There is a decrease in budget as well for the policy legislation evaluation and communications line item. So considering the fact that ECC is the GNWT's largest user of the IGC legislative development protocol, how can the Minister explain this? Thank you.
Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll pass to director St. Arnaud, please.
Director St. Arnaud.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That decrease is due to a decrease that we did for travel in the policy unit which won't impact the legislative initiatives. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Can we just say generally that, you know, the folks in this division do a lot of great work, as I'm sure the department knows, I know. But it's a lot of heavy lifting. It's a lot of really important work. And I would just suggest that if we are wanting to do expedient and good work on this, on legislative initiatives, it might be worthwhile setting up similar -- something similar to the way that ITI approached the MRA. It's more of a comment than a question but just -- just if the Minister would like to respond. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, Madam Chair, I think we take a very collaborative approach on all of the work that we do. And I take the Member's point on the small reduction. It was part of the overall attempt to make a department-wide approach at some of the fiscal sustainability measures that we were looking at. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Nothing further.
Next, I have the Member for the Sahtu.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think this is the appropriate activity to ask this question on the bilateral nature fund agreement with the federal government.
Given the expiry of this current agreement, if so will it be sufficient to cover the GNWT's commitments; how does the ECC anticipate funding future protected areas? I guess there's kind of like two combined questions there, Madam Chair. Number one, is there going to be more efforts being made to renew the bilateral nature fund agreement? Then if so, are we going to have sufficient funds there to pursue protected areas? Mahsi.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we just recently signed a new bilateral nature agreement for $7 million with the federal government a week and a bit ago, and we also have been given approval to carry over the unspent balance from this fiscal year. Thank you, Madam Chair.
