Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is very sad to see the plight of floodaffected families and we all must come forward to help each other in the hour of need. This includes the GNWT as we work on doing their best to assist the affected families and evacuees during the 2021 flood for the communities of Jean Marie River and Fort Simpson. As a person who was in one of the communities during the flood and in contact with the other community, the GNWT did a great job. What I saw and witnessed was the departments doing their best to support each community as we dealt with the flood.

The GNWT...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On Saturday May 8th, as I was sitting in my living room, we heard the siren that we did not want to hear. It was the siren to advise residents it was time to evacuate the island as the water level had reached the 15meter mark. At this point in time, the community called a local state of emergency and kicked in the plan. As residents started leaving the island, the fire department and volunteers started going door to door to see who was going to leave and who was going to stay.

Mr. Speaker, we saw more than 400 residents pack up their necessities and move to the mainland...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, the Government of the Northwest Territories is not holding it up. I want to make that very clear. Deh Cho First Nations, the GNWT, and the Federal government are part of a working group for the Deh Cho Land Use Planning Committee. In talking to the Committee and being advised that to complete their plan is we're looking at 20222023. And, again, like I said, the GNWT is very supportive of this and working as an active member on it.

So the House is aware, the committee has a revised plan based on reviews of all parties, and the next step is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, wildfire season is here, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, or ENR, and our dedicated fire management team are ready.

Today I'd like to provide an update on what ENR has done to get ready for the 2021 fire season and the role residents and communities across the Northwest Territories have in preventing wildfires.

Mr. Speaker, preparation for the wildfire season begins with people. To that end, we have made sure that we have welltrained and wellprepared staff and contractors in place to respond to wildfires across every region and that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I guess my colleague's not going to like my answer. No, we're not going to invoke the dispute process right now. We're not going to do that. I totally agree that the federal government needs to pay for their fair share. And we're working on that right now. So if it's working and we're moving forward, then why would you invoke this process? So I cannot in good conscience invoke something that's not going to help the process. That, to me, is our last resort, and that's what we need to do. So I understand the passion of the Member. And I'm hoping that within a year's...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's not a bad movie. We're trying to actually move forward. So I keep on saying we're moving forward, and we're making progress. So a dispute mechanism is when we're not get moving forward. It may be not at the speed that the Member wants or I would want but we have a process in place that involves the GNWT, the Government of Canada, and Indigenous governments working together trying to get it resolved. And the challenge that we've seen right now is Section 35. We've seen some hiccups. Now we're trying to deal with that. And like I said previously, the federal...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's kind of a twoset question there. So I'm going to try to do the first one and maybe answer the second one there.

So the first part is the Department of Lands is working with the Tlicho Government and the Government of Canada to establish a land use planning process for Wek'èezhìi. Terms of reference for the planning process is completed but is not yet approved due to issues related that were raised through the government as part of our Section 35 process.

The Department of Lands is working with the Government of Canada, Indigenous governments to determine a path...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on Friday, May 7th, residents in Jean Marie were watching the river rise as Chief and Council initiated their Local Emergency. At 6:30 p.m., the first siren sounded advising the residents to start moving to higher ground. As residents rushed home to finish packing up the necessaries and getting ready to leave their home, the second siren sounded. This happened very quickly, and residents witnessed the water steadily climb and flow over the road that leads out of town.

In speaking with some residents afterwards, they said it was very scary because they did...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't talk about the past. That's gone. What I can tell you about right now is the Government of Canada, the Tlicho Government, and the Government of Northwest Territories are working together. We're talking about facetoface, bringing a facilitator. So if they're willing to do that and our Indigenous governments are willing to do this process, why do we as the Government of Northwest Territories need to bring in the dispute mechanism? We don't need to do that unless it's our last resort. So right now, the Government of the Canada, the Tlicho Government, and the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Member's commitment in looking at the same movie over and over again. But if it's a good movie, you want to watch it again and again. And so we want to get you know, see new things, moving on, and we can do that.

So we are moving forward. I have to say that. It's government, and we're looking at three different levels of government, and it takes a long time to get all three parties working together here.

To date, there has been a productive dialog with the GNWT, the Government of Canada, and the Indigenous government. And so we're working with them...