Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Can the Minister give us any further updates on the secret spills and compliance with the transboundary water agreement by the Government of Alberta? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for ECC.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since the spill and seepage were reported, Imperial Oil has been providing regular updates to the GNWT on its mitigation and redemption work. The Government of Alberta has undertaken monitoring near the spill and has not found evidence the drinking water sources in Lake Athabasca have been affected.
I met with the Alberta Minister of Environment and Protected Areas in April. The Minister agreed to notify the GNWT on any spills as soon as Alberta is aware of the spills as agreed in our transboundary agreement. The federal Department of Environment and Climate Change and Alberta established a notification and monitoring working group to discuss and improve spill notifications. The GNWT successfully advocated to become a member of the working group along with NWT Indigenous governments and representatives. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. As skeptical as I am about whether there will be any real changes, I do appreciate the efforts of the Minister to resolve this important matter.
Can the Minister tell us what discussions he had with either or both the Alberta and federal ministers about the secret processes of developing tar sands discharge regulations? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Member for the question. Both Alberta and Canada are considering the development of regulatory guidance or regulations to allow for discharge of treated oil sand tailings water to the Athabasca River. Alberta's conducting scientific studies to support the development of regulatory guidance which will outline requirements for oil sands and operations to release treated oil sands tailing water.
As I've stated previously, the GNWT I repeat the GNWT will not support the release of oil sands tailings affluent unless rigorous scientific science demonstrates a safe way for it to be done.
I met with the Alberta Minister of Environment and Protected Areas in April. I've asked the Minister how GNWT's comments on the key knowledge gaps reports will be addressed. I also continue to advocate that Alberta engage and consult with NWT Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations as well as the public on the development of any regulations. Officials have met with Canada to receive an update on their regulation development process. Canada's planning to release a discussion paper and conduct consultation with NWT Indigenous governments and organizations this year. The public review period for the federal regulations is anticipated in 2024.
Mr. Speaker, I can also tell you that it's not the only thing Alberta is looking at. They've looked at a variety of things and, again, we weren't able to get the concrete information what they were doing, but they did say that they were looking at other alternatives as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that; I learned a lot. When we develop significant environmental regulations or review and license proposed developments, our public and Indigenous governments have come to expect that these processes are open and transparent. I see no reason why our government cannot make its reviews of documents and submissions on the development of discharge regulations public, especially when it's public funds paying consultants to do the work.
So can the Minister commit to make our submissions and reviews related to tailings discharge regulation development public for the residents of the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can advise you that Alberta has asked we keep the key knowledge gap reports in our review confidential at the time while they complete their analysis. Noting that transparency is our interest, we've asked Alberta when they will be making the reports public as well as how they will be dealing with our comments. As I mentioned, we will also continue to advocate that Alberta engages and consults with NWT Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations as well as the public on the development of regulations. And I can honestly tell you, Mr. Speaker, I've made it very clear that we want to be able to get this information out publicly as soon as we can. 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 I hope we get the Alberta government's permission to release information that our citizens should get very soon. I'm worried, though, Mr. Speaker, that there may be some important events or milestones that are going to pass with the development of these discharge regulations during the upcoming territorial election.
Can the Minister commit to keeping the public informed of any significant events on tar sands spills and discharge regulation development during the upcoming election, and how would he intend to do that? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, should there be any significant incidents upstream or advancement of regulation development, the GNWT will inform the public as part of the caretaker's role during the elections. So if there's information that needs to be shared, we will make sure we get it out there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
