Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
I outlined some concerns with the recent socioeconomic forum held in December. I received several commitments that this would be an inclusive event. Those promises were not kept. How can we get everyone on board to improve benefit retention when the Minister continues to exclude key players like Aurora College, NGOs, and the NWT Association of Communities. Can the Minister explain why the participants included only GNWT staff, the mining industry, and a few Indigenous government staff at this socalled "forum?" Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, this work arises from the mandate document that is published on the GNWT's website, specifically under the priority commitment to adopt a benefit retention approach to economic development, a commitment that was agreed to on behalf of the Assembly, and then the mandate document that was determined thereafter where it says, host a socioeconomic forum with representatives from the mining industry, Indigenous governments, and the GNWT, to identify ways to work together to increase the socioeconomic benefits from resource development.
In fact, Mr. Speaker, we went further than that, though, and did in fact invite, and have involved since day one, the Native Women's Association and have certainly encouraged participation from all Members of this Cabinet, which certainly includes input from other departments, including ECE. And so, Mr. Speaker, you know, again and on top of that, Mr. Speaker, one last thing. This work has been going on since 2017. The Mineral Resources Act has been under contemplation since 2017. Nothing is lost. Any input in that process speaking to socioeconomic agreements is not lost. And any opportunity that other organizations may want to contact my office, to contact ITI, have been met with and welcomed and will continue to be welcomed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. You can't call it a forum when you purposefully exclude some parties; I just don't get it. But there was a very large, and no doubt expensive, report commissioned on socioeconomic agreements and was released only after this event with no public fanfare. It clearly shows that our current approach is failing to secure and retain benefits.
So can the Minister explain why that report was not or why the people that did the report didn't present it at the forum; why it was only released after the event; and why there's been no news release or even notice on the release of this work? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to pick which question I'm going to answer, Mr. Speaker, but let me see how many of them I can get through in a reasonable amount of time.
There is a fairly detailed report, Mr. Speaker. It's extensive, it's lengthy, and it certainly is being produced in the context again of a massive project under the Mineral Resources Act to develop regulations that will apply to that entire act under multiple streams, including socioeconomic agreements, which right now, Mr. Speaker, are not policybased. They're one by one. That's not how we want to do this going forward. We want this to be not only policybased but actually in regulations, to provide guidance to everyone, to make them more public, and to make it more clear exactly what's at stake.
Mr. Speaker, that lengthy detailed background piece of work was not included initially. It was clear from the participants that they wanted to see it, that they were prepared to go through it, and that's why it was released after. And there's certainly since that time been now almost two months of opportunity for folks to respond back and to speak to the details therein.
As for fanfare, Mr. Speaker, it seems to me there's been a lot of mention and a lot of opportunity for people to be aware of the work of the socioeconomic review. I am not I'm certain and confident that those interested have had an opportunity to make their interests known. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Colleagues, before we continue, twopart questions are acceptable but maybe not four or five. Just for the future. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I accept that, and of course I'm a little bit excited but, you know, it's question period. I don't actually expect to get answers. But aside from that recent onehour public discussion with Alternatives North on socioeconomic agreements at the invitation of the organization and ITI wouldn't actually allow the event to be recorded I'm not aware of any public engagement on this massive report that the department commissioned.
So can the Minister tell us whether there will be any public engagement on the socioeconomic agreement program review in the report? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, at this point overall public awareness and opportunity for engagement with ITI broadly, and at different stages of the development of the Mineral Resources Act and its regulations, started back in 2017, back with the development of the Mineral Resources Act, back with understanding what the public's general desire and wishes were for that piece of legislation. There was a fulsome consultative process at that time. None of that is lost. All of that has filtered back now into the process of developing the regulations. And in the regulation process, where it's into the weeds and into the specifics, there have been invitational opportunities and targeted opportunities with public reporting in the usual fashion. There's the open portal websites where people can provide their information. And there have been these opportunities for the targeted forums for those wishing for more specific opportunity. There's actually been two meetings with Alternatives North. I had the opportunity to sit with them as well as the department sat down with them thereafter. And now, Mr. Speaker, we're trying desperately to get to a point, Mr. Speaker, where some decisions can get made and drafting can get done so that this work can actually get underway and be delivered upon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final short supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I'm well on record as to the systemic issues with ITI's approach on public engagement on the mining regulations, and this has been repeated again with this disconnected socioeconomic program review. The command control model for public engagement and regulatory capture are alive and well in this department, as proven again by this event.
So can the Minister tell us what she is doing to ensure public participation in the development of resource management legislation and regulations and the decisionmaking itself? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, there has actually been quite a lot of public engagement in the last six years, quite a lot of feedback provided, not the least of which even includes the dialogue within this House. That is not lost. There's always public servants listening to everything that's said here. There's public servants that attend every public briefing in standing committee. There's been public servants involved in this work, again, since 2017, getting a very solid and thorough understanding. And now the work has gone through a process of codevelopment with Indigenous governments who also have gone out and done their own work to engage with their residents and those that they represent.
Mr. Speaker, I certainly make it my practice to try very hard never to turn down any ask for a meeting, any ask for an opportunity to submit letters or comments. And there's been open portals on all the various pieces of the Mineral Resources Act regulations as they've gone along. I'll continue with that process, Mr. Speaker. I'm always happy to receive things, whether through that formal process or through a less formal process, as are members of the staff and officials at ITI. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
