Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the department has been working on the PLAR for -- the Public Land Act regulations for a while. And if my recollection is correct, there's been a couple of particular points that have been somewhat challenging through that process, and we continue to work toward a resolution on those specific items. But I will pass to deputy minister Jenkins to provide a little bit more detail. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Deputy minister Jenkins.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we're continuing to do work on the Public Land Act regulations through the IGC technical working group. There's just a number of areas where we're working through issues with the Indigenous governments, interaction between some of the land administration, land use permitting aspects, and aspects that are carried out by land and water boards. That's one example. So there's a number of issues that we're sort of working through through that collaborative process, and it is work that we hope to advance in the next fiscal year and be able to bring that Act into force. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Frame Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, okay, so just to be clear what the deputy minister said there is that they are expecting to bring the land -- the regs forward within this fiscal year, so 2025-2026? Thank you.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, yes, that is our -- our goal is to have it completed in 2025-2026; however, we have multiple partners at the table in this process so we're hoping that we're able to achieve that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Frame Lake.
Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. I do understand the Minister's need to throw a caveat there that there's more than just the GNWT at the table. But, you know, would just say there's going to be disagreements sometimes when we're moving these things forward but we also have to at some point move things forward. As I noted, you know, five years, that's a long time. And we've had this conversation about a bunch of different Acts and regs, and, you know, there was a Forest Act in the last Assembly. You know, there is a need to move legislation forward regardless of the various kind of disagreements that may occur along the way. You got to sometimes set a date to figure out when you're going to get the agreement that best satisfies everybody's interests knowing that you're not always going to get everything -- not everybody's going to get everything they want but I guess, yeah, I appreciate the department pushing for conclusion of that process within the fiscal year. So thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change, do you want to respond to that?
Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to the Member. Point taken.
Okay. Next, I have Member for the Sahtu.
Thank you, Madam Chair. My question within this activity is compensation and benefits from the fiscal year 2023-2024, and it's increased to 11.374. My question to that, compensation and benefits is projected to slightly increase on the RAA overall budget. Are these increases attributed to the new UNW collective agreement, or is there something else such as the consolidation of inspectors and officers into the RAA? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, $900,000 was directly attributed to the collective bargaining. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for the Sahtu.
Madam Chair (audio).
Okay, thank you. No further questions, please turn to page 98.
Environment and Climate Change, regulatory, assessment and authorizations, operations expenditure summary, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $15,131,000. Does the -- sorry, Member for Yellowknife North.
My apologies, Madam Chair, I didn't wave or get your attention enough here but I do have some questions on this section.
My first question is around the land management administration division. First, can the Minister just tell us how many staff work in this division in total.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. 33 in total. Thank you.
Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Can you also clarify, so they're in charge of the administration of public land. Is that land only outside of municipal boundaries and does it include, like, settlement lands that have been settled within Indigenous land claims? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll pass to deputy minister Jenkins, please.
Deputy minister Jenkins.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So that includes territorial and Commissioner's land. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Yellowknife North.
Okay, so that could include territorial or Commissioner's land if it is inside municipal boundaries or outside, just to clarify that. Okay, I'm seeing nods. Thank you for that.
I also just wanted to note -- and perhaps I'll make a Member's statement about this later this week or next, but I mean, a big role of this division is participating in and coordinating the GNWT's input into environmental assessments and security proceedings. So can the Minister clarify whether the GNWT is -- or sorry, whether ECC is directly participating in environmental assessments that the GNWT is a proponent of? So, for example, if the GNWT is proposing the Mackenzie Valley Highway or a Slave Geological Province road, does ECC staff then get to participate in that environmental assessment, or what would their role be if the project is led by the GNWT itself? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, yes, we do -- staff does participate in that process, and they provide advice. And I'll pass to deputy minister Jenkins; perhaps he can provide a little more detail beyond advice. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Deputy minister Jenkins.
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. So those projects such as Mackenzie Valley Highway, Slave Geological Province corridor, are GNWT initiatives. They are led by the Department of Infrastructure. But the GNWT is advancing a whole-of-government approach, so what that means is that departments are working together to inform project activities and participation in the environmental assessment process. And subject-matter experts, not only in ECC but in ECE, in health and in other departments, are providing feedback to infrastructure as the project lead to assist in the environmental assessment process and ultimately to help improve the project. And our subject-matter experts and those of other departments are available during the proceedings to answer questions and provide additional support as necessary. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So thank you for that answer, for the detailed answer. So just to clarify, though, that during proceedings, during the public portion of an environmental assessment when, you know, evidence is being presented, like, those subject-matter experts and maybe they're, you know, water scientists, hydrologists, or maybe they're biologists, do they -- do they get to publicly present the information they have that they think it's important to know about the potential impacts, say, of a road, or are those presentations -- you said that they get to inform infrastructure officials. Is that just happening, like, behind the scenes but not in public? Can you clarify whether there's an opportunity for those subject-matter experts on their own to present what they feel are the important impacts or considerations related to those projects? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll pass to deputy minister Jenkins. Thank you.
Deputy minister Jenkins.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So it's perhaps important to sort of just take a step back outside of before the work that's done before the public hearing. And so as I mentioned, experts will provide input into project design and feedback, and if there are differences of opinion regarding the analysis or the methodology or the conclusions, we do have a dispute resolution process that we can implement internally.
As people know, I worked formerly in the Department of Infrastructure. That was not implemented to my knowledge. So departments have been agreeing on aspects of what's going forward into the submissions to the board.
Moving forward into the public hearing process, the experts will be available to answer questions. And as you know, it is a quasi judicial process so they -- if they are asked a question do you disagree with this or do you have a different opinion on this, they will -- and are fully in there -- will participate fully in that process and provide those answers. And if it is different than the project design, of course decisions -- if decisions are made in that instance, then there will be representatives of the project who will have to speak to that in the public process. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This internal dispute resolution process that you're talking about, I assume it refers to, like, if experts or individuals from different departments have really different views on what should be done about a project. Do you have more details on what that internal dispute resolution process looks like? Is it written down somewhere; is it sort of informal protocol or understanding? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll pass to deputy minister Jenkins.
Deputy minister Jenkins.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I mean, in essence, it's elevated up through the departmental systems and a conversation had in terms of that and an agreement made. As I mentioned, I'm not aware of any instances where the dispute resolution process was implemented for these projects.
The other piece that I would add is that there has been through the Mackenzie Valley Highway process one of the things that the board is very interested in this, so as we went through the IR process for round one, there was identification of the departments that were involved in the preparation of the responses to all the questions for the IR process. Hope that's helpful. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll leave it there for now, but I do hope to follow up with a Member's statement and questions later on this session. Thanks for your patience and for letting us come back to this one. Thank you.
I have next, Member for Range Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And I know that the Ministers -- or our witnesses have already been asked about municipal land transfers, and specifically in my community of Yellowknife, but I'd like to ask what the outstanding issues are with respect to that land transfer in the city and also ask that the clock be reset. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Sorry about that. Okay. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
