Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following up on my Member's statement, and Mr. Speaker, I know the Minister's live to this issue, I know the Minister cares about this issue. My first question is what are we doing and when are we finally going to resolve this issue of cabin leases in settled land claim areas? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question.
Mr. Speaker, this has been an area that has been top of mind for me. It was one of my priorities, my personal priorities when I came into the Assembly and became Minister, and there's been a lot of work done within the department. I certainly, much like the Member, would like to see the pace moving a little quicker than it is but, you know, very aware of the capacity of not only the department but the Indigenous governments to move this forward. We have a number of initiatives going. We've addressed a way to engage so that we can look at the program as a whole, and we've sent letters out. We have a meeting scheduled for early May to discuss some options. And, again, as I've stated before it's very important to me that we get the perspectives and the input from all of the Indigenous governments across the NWT to ensure that we're looking out for everyone's interest as we move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, we must commit to respecting the IFA, certainly in the Inuvialuit settlement area, and our obligations under this implementation. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister speak to any specific legislation that would have to be changed to make this happen? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we are currently working through the process, we are working with -- through the Intergovernmental Council on land tenure on -- oh sorry, the Intergovernmental Council on land and resource management through the legislative development protocol. And as we're doing this, we're working on the establishment of finalizing the regulations toward the land tenure issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Minister for that. I don't think I got a specific piece of legislation in there, and I'd note that now is not the time to negotiate; now is the time, again, to respect the legislation and the rules and the Indigenous agreements that are in place.
With that, Mr. Speaker, would the Minister once again commit to pausing all invoicing and all collections until this issue is finally resolved? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And apologies to the Member for my little stumble there. Currently we are working on reducing -- potentially reducing rents for Indigenous leaseholders that have traditional harvesting rights to potentially a dollar. Unfortunately, under the current legislation we're unable to go to zero. Certainly, we have the program in place, which came into force in 2023 which we've extended now, to pause collection on outstanding lease arrears. And we're certainly, you know, want to do everything we can as a department to work with all of the Indigenous governments across the NWT to ensure that we can, you know, support the implementation of those programs and happy to continue with that down that road and ensure that we are, you know, trying to get everyone to come over and sign up for the program that's interested in having their arrears paused. And if there are groups out there that would need additional assistance, happy to work on that as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Oral questions. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
