Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, at this point, Mr. Speaker, having received feedback and being aware of interest in the area over the last six years, the department is at the point of being able to do the modeling and to be able to then take that, develop a policy, and develop it in concert, of course, with the Intergovernmental Council and the technical working group with whom we've been developing the Mineral Resources Act regulations from the start. It's part of a codevelopment process. They will make some decisions as a group. That will be what determines what the drafting instructions...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these were specifically intended to gather information from prospector licensing holders because, of course, they're asking questions along the lines of "do you agree with adopting the PDAC exploration assessment digital data form EADDF for work assessment reports for data submission and digital format including PDF reports or other acceptable files, metadata, spatial map locations, geophysics submissions, including raw field data." Mr. Speaker, the average member of the public does not want to be answering that question. It would not be appropriate. It was...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, that probably is the answer there is probably going to have to look as much to the arts funding that is being proposed in the main estimates here as much as it is to tourism programming. But, again, as I had indicated earlier when I made a commitment that I will go back to NWT Tourism around accommodation issues and what work they may be doing, perhaps I'll add to that list, and I no doubt am due for a touch base with them, that we can speak specifically about what we can do to increase access to the arts sector as well. And again, you know, they are...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I can't say on the perspective of what Indigenous governments' view on it might be. What I can speak to a bit more is with respect to the foraging and harvesting opportunities, you know, for example Ecology North, I believe, has been running tours out to do harvesting walks or foraging walks here just in Yellowknife. So to the extent that these are the people who understand and know the land the best, I would think those opportunities are there. Whether they want to commodify that and turn that into a tourism product, again, there is funding opportunity for...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there was a federal-provincial-territorial meeting just not that long ago in Vancouver, and it certainly I think was reflective that the experience across much of Canada is similar to ours, which is we're seeing a return to some degree, but also acknowledging that a lot of the operators are not uniformly back to where they were and necessarily uniformly back to being in a position to welcome back the tourists who do seem to be coming back in terms of the demand. So there is still some disconnect in that respect. We're not alone in experiencing that.

As far...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe it is open at least largely open, to be this summer, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I mean, yes, I certainly also hope that tourism continues to move forward. Right now there is I mean, NWT Tourism does do the lion's share, really, of all of our marketing. That was divested to them some years ago as being a specialty area that they can focus on. There is Northwest Territories, the Tourism 2025 still in play right now, which is still being implemented and there's funding for its implementation, and there's quite a number of funding programs still here for incomers to the industry. So, you know, and the funding has continued to increase...

Thank you, Madam Chair. So, again, Madam Chair, would look to pointing again to the list of funding programs that are going to be provided to all Members. But perhaps I'll turn to the deputy minister and see if she can add something more specific at this point. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I mean, there certainly are funds from CanNor that do come through at various points for various initiatives. Let me see if the deputy minister can speak to whether she knows what they may have funded for the City of Yellowknife.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I completely agree. There is the Tourism NWT conference bureau that sits within NWT Tourism. What I'd suggest is perhaps ensuring that there's a more direct connection between the conference bureau, which admittedly was not seeing a significant amount of incoming conferences here during COVID but is back to work now and looking forward. So perhaps making sure that they can confirm with me, again on my list of things I want to talk to them about, that they have a direct liaison to the Town of Fort Smith and to the facilities that are there. Thank you.