Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will continue on with my theme of economic development in the Northwest Territories, particularly in the Sahtu region.
Today I would like to talk about the potential for minerals, for mining in the Sahtu region. The amount of land related to mining exploration within the Sahtu, there are 397 mineral claims covering approximately 301,000 hectares, 14 mineral leases covering approximately 5.8 hectares, and 1.08 percent of the total Sahtu area is occupied by active mineral tenure.
The land claim was negotiated in 1993 and became law in 1994. The land claim asserts jurisdiction to the Sahtu people as to the development that’s going to happen in the Sahtu region. It gave them sovereignty. It also gave them institutions such as the Sahtu Land Use Plan. The Sahtu Land Use Plan allows development to happen in areas that are agreeable by the governments and by the Sahtu people where development can happen.
Mining has been an issue with the Sahtu people ever since the uranium mine was mined and the content was taken down the Bear River to southern parts of the United States where it was developed. As a matter of fact, there is a report by the federal government that states that from the mining from the Great Bear Lake, 700,000 tonnes of waste was dumped into Great Bear Lake and they’re still working on it to clean it up.
Today we have these types of examples. We have mining that has a high potential in our regions, and today the Sahtu people would like to see if there can be a conference on the potential of the remediation, a potential for mining and what we need to do to look at the mining issue in the Sahtu region. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
