Mr. Speaker, frustration continues to grow among my constituents who are stuck in the process of finalizing their recreational land leases years after the department indicated their applications were moving ahead. I've been working with several constituents over the last six months -- the Minister knows who they are -- to figure out how to move forward and along the way to progress. And what I have seen so far has been incredibly disappointing.
When I last spoke on the floor, the Minister responsible, he assured me that this process was consistent and transparent, and he would work to improve communications with applicants. Since that time, my advocacy on this issue to ensure those commitments were followed through have only taken me in circles. The department has placed the final decision on the First Nation, the Yellowknives Dene First Nation in this case, but the First Nation officials there have directed me back to the department. This should come as no surprise. The department created this land lease process and began accepting applications, not the First Nation. They cannot shrug off the responsibility and claim that criticizing their application process means questioning Indigenous sovereignty. I know of Indigenous families who applied for these leases as well, and they have been told by the department that they don't trust them to respect the environment and wildlife on the sites they were looking to build cabins on.
Now, these are -- I'm seeing I'm going too fast, so I'll slow down. I'm passionate, Mr. Speaker. I'm very passionate.
Mr. Speaker, the department didn't flat out tell them that but that's how they feel. They feel that their concerns are not being heard. They feel like they're being made to run in circles, and I see no reason to disagree with them. The land lease application process is clearly not consistent and transparent when they are picking and choosing which applicants can build cabins and which applicants can't, and not giving them proper communication to those decisions for years at a time.
The department can't put the responsibility on Indigenous governments when it's their process and they are the ones denying, in some cases Indigenous rights, to people to build cabins on public land. If the department can't improve land leases consistently, they need to stop this process or else more applicants will be stuck in an indefinite loop without any progress. We've made exceptions before based on promises made by ADMs to people who own a lot of property in certain areas of unsettled claims, why can't we make the same adjustments for law-abiding citizens following the process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Members' statements. Member from the Mackenzie Delta.
