Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I recognize that NWT residents and Members are concerned about the potential environmental impact of the proposed Teck Resources oilsands mine proposed downstream from here. As I said previously to the Member for Frame Lake, the bilateral agreement with the Government of Alberta was signed in March 2015 to help preserve equality and quantity and the biology of the water flowing into the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, I want to inform the House and the public that I have already spoken to Smith's Landing Chief Cheezie about this issue and will also be reaching out to the Alberta...

I know that politicians are supposed to take stances on things. It is easier when you are on the other side to do it. Right now, what I am trying to do is work with the Government of Alberta to do what is right to actually implement the transboundary water agreement. That is what I am working on. I don't want to get up here and say, "Here, I'm greatly standing against it or supporting it." What I am trying to do is do the work right, then we can go from there.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today, I am pleased to rise and speak to Members about the celebration of the 2020 Hockey Day in Canada being hosted here in Yellowknife. The celebration was launched on February 5th and will continue to the 8th.

This event marks the ninth year of the festive celebration, celebrating hockey, one of Canada's national sports. Norman Wells, Detah, N'Dilo will also play host to visits associated with Hockey Day in Canada, as well as Deline, which is the birthplace of hockey in Canada.

The festivities will bring children's hockey and officiating clinics, various...

I want to do it right. I have given them clear directions. I have asked them to come up with a model that works for the North. Is it a model of public interest groups and individuals across the territories to do it? Is it a combination of utilizing government and non-government people? I have given them three or four options to look at so that they can come to us with a better option to run that corporation.

Right now, I am going to stick to what I have asked them to do, and I am willing to work with committee once we get this information. I have to work with my colleagues, and then I have to...

No. We are working with the community through the nature fund and some of that stuff there, so the community is actually coming up with the funding. We have monitors right now on the ground. We work with paying for those, again, so unfortunately I can't say we are going to pay for those four, but we do have staff and we do have one staff in the community, an RR-02 position, so right now we do fund those things.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Barren-ground caribou are a shared resource and a shared responsibility, and it is important that we all work together to help their recovery. The band is a member of the Bathurst Caribou Advisory Committee, which works on their management plan for the herd. The band also participates in the Bathurst Caribou Range Plan Working Group, which will guide management of the herd moving on, and ENR continues to support the band and other Indigenous governments and organizations with their monitoring. This is in addition to ENR's regular monitoring of the Bathurst caribou herd...

Good question. I trust that they are going to do this. I know that I will be having a meeting with the board when I can fit it into our schedule. They have made a commitment. They have made an oath. They have signed a document saying that they are going to be impartial. They are looking out for what is best for the Northwest Territories. That is what they are there for. We have looked at their skill sets, and that is how we got them in place right now. I am going to trust them moving forward, unless they break that trust, and then, as the Minister, we make some quick decisions after that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I apologize. They are not DMs, but the skill sets that they have are actually helping the board run. Right now, we are filling them in that position until we get the governance model moving forward. We have asked them to come up with a governance model, and we are utilizing their skill sets to do this job. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I don't know if I heard the last part of the question, but I am thinking. ENR conducts regular ground and aerial monitoring of the mobile zone, and we do have the two checkpoints there. They are manned 24/7 during the season. I know, from talking to some of the hunters, that the monitors and the staff actually stop people and talk to them and communicate, and some of the times, if they have heard or seen some challenges, they investigate that further.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Caribou are central to our communities as a food source and as part of our local culture and way of life.

As you know, Mr. Speaker, our caribou herds are struggling. In particular, the Bathurst and the Bluenose-East herds have suffered serious declines in recent years.

The Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to supporting our caribou through periods of decline. Today I am here to highlight some of the actions that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is leading in our government's efforts to manage human impacts on the Bathurst caribou herd...