Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the ITI Minister who seems to have the lead on our remediation economy. In my statements in May, October, February, and again today, I noted the potential for literally billions of dollars of federal investment across the northern territories as part of an accelerated program on contaminated sites remediation and economic recovery.
It's now clear that my calls to action or my offer of assistance have ever been taken seriously. But can the Minister provide an update on the status of this work to secure accelerated federal investment to build a remediation economy? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of ENR is the lead for the remediation economy. They are the ones that are responsible for preparing a draft discussion paper. The fact that that paper is being prepared right now should be well known at this point by committee Members. Fortunately, Mr. Speaker, the Department of ENR and ITI actually meet regularly. There's a number of initiatives where the two departments are working quite closely together in addition to which there is an assistant deputy minister that also is working in this area of remediation. And so I'm certainly able to respond as I am not entirely sure where the rest of the questions will go. I can again assure the Member, assure this House, that that discussion paper is underway. It will go through its usual processes of approvals through Cabinet and sharing with the committee.
As for the potential of billions of federal dollars, I would love to know that there are billions of federal dollars that are so easy for the picking. I have, in the past, responded at some length about the efforts that I went through, the multiple letters and emails and context I went through, to see if we could get ourselves into the federal program that was announced for British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. That program, however, was quite specific to orphaned or inactive wells that have no owners. We've gone through our process. We've tried to provide all the information necessary. And quite simply put, the situation, the wells that we have here have owners and they will not be eligible for that program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. And clearly, the approach we've taken to date has been a dismal failure. From what I've seen, we continue to pitch this investment as a way to bail out the extractive sector. Federal support is not a way to backtrack and pollute our pace or absolve the private sector of its liabilities.
So what assurance can the Minister give me that we're going to change our bailout approach and start to make a pitch for an accelerated northern contaminated sites remediation program? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't agree that there is any sort of bailout program and so in that sense I suppose I could simply say there is no direction to go towards any sort of bailout and end my answer at that.
I, however, Mr. Speaker, will continue on to reassure everyone that the polluter pays principle continues to be the live principle that applies in the Northwest Territories. That hasn't changed. And as for, again, looking for opportunities to build the remediation economy, that discussion paper's already underway, led by ENR.
And in the meantime, Mr. Speaker, although we might not find ourselves fitting into the program that was announced for those three western provinces, we're already looking at whether there's a way to pivot our ask to better adapt to the circumstances and situation we have here in the Northwest Territories so that we can access, if there are funds available, that we can be able to access them or find a way to ask for them that's more meaningful. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I think part of the problem here is that we have no concrete proposal that's been put together to show what the contaminated sites are, the risks they pose, the cost to assess and remediate them, and the benefits that could accrue. I'm more than happy to roll up my sleeves and help with that work.
Can the Minister tell us whether there is a concrete proposal for an accelerated northern contaminated sites remediation program? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, again, ENR is the lead in terms of managing contaminated sites and the contaminated sites inventory. The Department of ITI certainly is responsible for liaising as well with the department on the federal level. With respect to the industry sector, Mr. Speaker, I can assure you that we did undertake a fairly extensive program in order to determine the various types of sites and sumps all across the Northwest Territories. Simple fact is they have current owners and including all those sumps and as such, they didn't fit into that federal program. For a future ask, that's exactly why there's a discussion paper that's being put together so that there is an organized ask, goes across all of the departments that are involved on this initiative. And, Mr. Speaker, that effort is already well under its way underway. The drafts will be prepared in early 2022. Might not quite be a Christmas present, but maybe we'll have it in time for the Easter Bunny. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. And as my Christmas present, this will probably be the last question I can ask my Cabinet colleagues in 2021.
We have an extensive inventory of contaminated sites so there's lots of work to be done. That work should also be part of a key part of what the polytechnic university might look at as well to help build capacity and capture opportunities for remediation economy.
Will the Minister commit to regularly update regular MLAs on her efforts to secure federal investment to accelerate remediation work? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's too many times where perhaps the Member from Frame Lake and I appear to disagree. This isn't one of them. I also agree that the remediation economy is one that we need to be looking at, that we need to look at carefully, that we need to find the opportunities, and it's going to involve not only ITI but ENR, ECE, and Lands.
So, yes, Mr. Speaker, I certainly will be more than happy to ensure that bringing all of that together and updating this House happens regularly. When there's multiple departments involved, it does take a bit more coordinating. But it's a lot of good work that's happening, and I'll definitely make that commitment. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
Oral Question 889-19(2):
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And it's good to hear the enthusiasm in Minister's voice. Mr. Speaker, the NWT arts program offers, as she said, registering artists the choice as well to have a public or private profile on this website. But I guess the question I have, what does this actually mean, and does this allow for art to be sold on that website as well? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm happy to give some information about the difference between the two. If there's a public profile on the NWT arts website, then they can use that as a way to help promote themselves. They can link to their own public pages. If they have a private profile, then, Mr. Speaker, they wouldn't have as much information available on the site. They'd certainly still be a registered artist so that they can use the branding. But obviously, that's not quite the same in terms of the promotion that they might get, but they may certainly it's up to them to be able to decide. The Northwest Territories arts doesn't actually sell art or sell artwork, but there is the "where to buy" section that can help link customers to online stores and to stores here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department promotes the NWT arts logo as a mark of authentic artwork in the marketplace and the website as a tool to find NWT art and artists. Does this logo differentiate between Indigenous and nonIndigenous artists, as we have Metis, First Nations, and Inuit artisans. Their artwork, as far as I'm concerned, should be recognized and promoted as such because it's you know, it's valued throughout Canada and worldwide as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at present, no, the arts logo doesn't differentiate between the artists' background of any sort. They are a Northwest Territories artist, and that is the extent of it. So I mean obviously if somebody wants to find out more information, again, they can go to the artist's profile. But that may be the sort of item where artists themselves may want to discuss with us if they are interested in seeing some differentiation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I took a look at the strategy, the 2021, 2031 strategy this morning, and I noticed that it was silent on distinguishing between Indigenous and nonIndigenous artists. And I think that, you know, by not having that not distinguishing, we're missing out on a big market out there. And I think it's something that the department should actually look at.
And, Mr. Speaker, you know, we got buyers who are seeking northern Indigenous artwork, and they need to have a mechanism that is central, accessible, and safe to use. And I guess what I'm saying is that we need a platform that artists can, you know that can go on there and they could have their product on there, and it's you know, the government looks after the cost of managing it and so we can get that you know, get the artisans' products out to the world. And, you know and I don't see anything like that. You know, all I see is kind of Facebook and like Kijiji, eBay, you see some stuff on there, but, you know, you really have to look for it. And we need something that's central to the NWT.
So how is this accomplished or to be accomplished, or is it even on the department's radar to have something that's central? And I have talked to the Minister of ECE about it as well so I'm hoping that between the two departments they can kind of take a look at it and decide whether it's worthwhile pursuing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so, again, at present, that's not a distinction that is being made, but we're at a good moment in time with the new art strategy having come out and a lot of work happening right now to determine the future of ways in which we're going to promote arts in the Northwest Territories. So I can certainly speak with my colleague of course at E, C and E about this, about whether there is some differentiation that might happen and want to of course talk to the artists themselves about what that might look and what benefit they would see from that. We do certainly have the seals and sealing network which does promote specifically Indigenous crafts based on seal skins. So that may be somewhere to start and somewhere to see just how how the impact of having an Indigenous lens and Indigenous identifier included might impact on buying decisions. So, you know, as I said, happy to look into that and certainly want to make sure we're promoting our artists. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
