Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The environmental assessment hearings for the Giant Remediation Project begin in September. The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board will review the assembled information and then issue recommendations governing remediation of the site. Those measures must keep our environment and people safe in perpetuity – that’s forever – unless technology is developed to eliminate the stored arsenic. Public confidence in the measures over perpetuity is essential. As the review board chair pointed out recently, public trust is a fundamental part of community acceptance of the project.
Thanks primarily to the dogged determination of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, the City of Yellowknife and Alternatives North, there has been progress towards the creation of an independent oversight body to monitor the project as long as it continues. These groups, with the federal and territorial governments, signed a letter to the board this week. They stated general agreement on creating a working group to make proposals on an independent oversight body.
A public body would provide arm’s length advice to minimize environmental harm and risks and to build public trust. It would review environmental monitoring plans including any perpetual care plan and monitor their implementation and results. They would monitor compliance with regulatory conditions and other commitments made by government, and encourage research into alternative technologies to finally eliminate the arsenic. Perhaps above all, it would create the transparency, public involvement and unbiased reporting essential to public trust.
If the Giant Mine remediation were coming as a new development proposal today, this form of public oversight would be routine. Look at the legally binding agreements in place for our diamond mines. The need is clear. Eventually, regulatory permits will be issued to carry out the remediation work and stabilize the arsenic, but a project laden with decades of public anxiety in millennia of environmental consequences requires a social licence as well. Creation of an independent oversight body under a fully funded and legally binding agreement could issue that social licence and give us confidence for the years ahead. I appreciate and encourage this government in continuing support for the creation of an independent oversight body. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
