Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Lands is currently running an ad campaign on the benefits of leasing. And, Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about the main benefit of leasing, which is one we all tend to ignore in this territory, and the main benefit is that at the end of a lease, a lessor can take the land back, Mr. Speaker. And, in fact, in the Northwest Territories, not only do we take the land back, we require the lessee to tear down any structures and remediate the land, Mr. Speaker. And yet everyone I talk to who has a lease does not seem to think this is at all a possibility.
So, Mr. Speaker, we have to ask ourselves are we actually going to take back any of the land and the structures that people live in under these leases? And, Mr. Speaker, if the answer to that question is no, there is a very simple and obvious solution. That is to give those people their land, Mr. Speaker, that we have no intention of actually taking back. And, Mr. Speaker, I believe it is time we get out of the leasing business.
Firstly, Mr. Speaker, I think we have to start with the hunters and trappers who are exercising a traditional right. I say the easiest and most simpliest solution here is to identify their cabins, give it to them in fee simple for a dollar, and leave them alone, Mr. Speaker. No more inspections.
However, Mr. Speaker, if we're not willing to do that, I think there is an elegant solution in some sort of tenure for Indigenous rights holders. May I suggest a 99year lease for $1, and then we leave them alone, Mr. Speaker. And we might just have to accept that our pages and pages of lease guidelines aren't the best fit. Mr. Speaker, we're going to have to meet our hunters and trappers where they are. The reality is they have cabins that are sometimes within the hundred meter set back from the high watermark, Mr. Speaker, and we might just have to accept that, Mr. Speaker, and give them some sort of tenure for $1, Mr. Speaker, and stop charging them lease fees, stop charging them taxes, and stop taking them to collections.
Next, Mr. Speaker, once we are in community boundaries, why do we have any leases? The key role of community government is to set bylaws that speak to setbacks, the size of structures, and to administrate their land in community boundaries. It is time we take every single lease we have in the community boundaries and either give it to the community government or the individual who lives in that house. The GNWT needs to get out of the leasing business and stop doubling down on the benefits of leasing if our intention is to not actually take the land back at the end of the term. I'll have questions for the Minister of Lands. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member for Great Slave.
