Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the issues with having municipal, territorial, and federal government is that we control the legislation for municipalities, and we often take our time to deal with it. My question is for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Will the City, Towns and Villages Act be brought forward during the life of this Assembly?
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The legislative priorities for the 19th Assembly have not been finalized. At this time, MACA has identified the Fire Protection Act, Property Assessment Taxation Act, Seniors and Disabled Persons Property Tax Relief Act. At this time, we have not identified the Cities, Towns and Villages Act for amendments during this Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I believe this is why persistence is key, because without bringing the City, Towns and Villages Act to the floor in the life of this Assembly, a Yellowknife city charter is not possible. Is the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs willing to begin negotiations with the City of Yellowknife to hear their concerns and see what a possible city charter would look like?
With the negotiations for the charter amendments or the charter act that is proposed by the City of Yellowknife at this time, it's a southern model that has not been initiated in the Northwest Territories. We are looking at it. We are in conversation, but we have not implemented anything. We are far from that. Going forward, I really want to be mindful that, in the Northwest Territories, we do have self-government negotiations going on right now, we do have land claims that have not been settled. Looking at this new approach would definitely need a lot more conversation and a lot more thought into how this would be integrated in the Northwest Territories, but we also have to be mindful that we do have Indigenous groups that are currently in negotiations.
I am very mindful that we have ongoing negotiations, and, in many ways, this goes to the heart of what the future role of the City of Yellowknife looks like once we have devolved our powers into the smaller communities. This is what these conversations largely are about. Would the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs be willing to provide the Northwest Territories Association of Communities and the City of Yellowknife of what a process would look like to ultimately have a city charter?
This approach is very new to the Northwest Territories, and we have detailed, in conversation. MACA is preparing to receive information from the City of Yellowknife on the charter proposal. We are open to meet with them in discussion and concepts, but I think the key is to better understand the specifics of this area. The city is seeking to increase their authority through the city charter. We will, of course, also want to gather other relative information that the city would offer so that we can begin to build a full understanding of what is being discussed and proposed. As I said, this is a very new approach for the Northwest Territories, and I would like to be very mindful of how we are going to start speaking with the City of Yellowknife in making sure that going forward it is done correctly, and mindful of the Northwest Territories as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
