Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before I do the eulogy for Steven Squirrel, I'd just like to thank  congratulate the grads from Echo Dene and Fort Simpson and I will hopefully be able to go in there and join their celebration next week. So I look forward to that with Echo Dene and Fort Simpson as well.

Mr. Speaker, Steven Squirrel was born in Fort Simpson on Tuesday, June 1st, 1954. He was the only child to his parents of the late Victor Squirrel and the late Corrine Grossetete. Unfortunately, his father Victor passed away when he was a young boy. A few years later, his mother  his mother...

Oh, sorry. I didn't know if it was coming to me or. So, yeah, we'remaking sure that data is critical. That's why we were able to work with the Nunavut government and the hamlet of Coppermine to get the survey done, and it was probably unfortunate because COVID. You know, it hit us last year but we're able to start continuing to manage our survey, moving forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as you are aware, two of the communities from the Nahendeh Region are hurting right now. Our people are heartbroken and displaced, and many have lost everything they own. While we are dealing with the flood, I was amazed and awed of the residents and businesses inside and outside of our two communities who made donations of funding, food and services, cleaning supplies, and clothing during this difficult time.

Mr. Speaker, this is my way of reaching out to those who helped us in their own way. I want to tell you how much we appreciate your kindness and...

Thank you. My understanding, with all the data and that, we're hoping to have it at the end of the summer but I will get back confirmation with that to committee. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We need the freezer because we had over 150  or 140 caribou that were killed illegally in the mobile zone. Unfortunately, we can't cut up the meat and put it away. We need to have it as evidence. We've seen a court case now that they actually  the JP actually said we have to give some caribou back and they wanted exactly what he killed. So we need the unit to be able to store the caribou, the evidence, until the court case is dealt with. Once the court case is dealt with, we then give the meat out to the communities that did not  I repeat, did not be part of the illegal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question. The statement of environmental values required under the Environmental Rights Act will outline how the environment will be considered when government decisions are made that may have a significant impact on the environment.

Specifically to the Member's question, ENR has prepared a draft statement of environmental values that will be ready for a 90day public comments period by the end of this summer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NWT Climate Change Council was established in March 2021 and so they have been having meetings. Part of the development of this council is panels, and we do have a panel for youth and we are trying to getting them engaged. This summer, ENR has some opportunities for youth to be involved. But other youth have had the opportunity to reach out to me, and I've had the opportunity to meet with them. In my former life, youth were important. I always say our foundation of our elders and our future is our youth. So I'm more than willing to meet with them. We do have the...

So thank you. No, we didn't go out and engage with our Indigenous elders and that to get the freezer. We are trying to make  have a place where we can keep the evidence within  so it doesn't melt, it doesn't get destroyed, and we can  after the court case, then we give it out. It's not years. It's not a year. It's within a timeframe that we have the court system and we need to follow the court system. And what we found, just recently in our last court case that went in there, basically we were told we had to give back two caribou. Two caribou exactly. We had a caribou that was missing a part...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this required a lot of details and I thank the Member for giving us advance notice on it so it's going to be a little bit longer but I need to share this important information.

The 2030 Climate Change Strategic Framework in the 20192023 action plan were developed collaboratively with Indigenous governments and organizations and other partners in NWT after extensive engagement. As reported in the annual report released early this year, the GNWT and our partners are making a lot of progress in implementing the action identified in the 20192023 action plan.

I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the GNWT is aware of these cases. The Department of ENR follows the shifts in climate change best practice and legal actions as part of their comprehensive approach to addressing climate change. Youth have a particularly important role and stake in climate change. As we all say, that's our future. At the people are going to be looking after this  looking after us and our planet.

ENR continues to take active advantage of and providing opportunity to youth involvement, including the youth advisor group and youth gathering. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.