Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Zoe.

Thank you. My colleague from Deninu Kue is correct. Many people don't understand the whole process of tax assessment, property tax assessment and how they calculate. There are various categories and so forth. My department has made a commitment next month to travel into your community, Mr. Villeneuve. We are going to be doing a community consultation exactly as to what you are talking about so that the community fully understands. They can also ask our department officials various questions pertaining to this whole issue. We are planning to go into your community in April. Also, I believe, the Department of Finance will be accompanying us with their officials so that they can also answer questions pertaining to the billings, et cetera. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It is good news, I am sure. I am sure they will be welcomed with open arms. I think that something like this should be an ongoing thing. I think communities in all of the Northwest Territories, and not just in my riding, deserve the attention to the matters where they are paying tax dollars. I am sure many of them want to pay and wouldn't mind paying given the explanations as to why they pay and how it relates to their municipal budgets and infrastructure and various other items that many people just take for granted. If it is a one-year thing, probably in a few years they will be running into the same problem. People tend to forget and disregard obligations, especially tax obligations when they receive income tax notices or assessment notices or a tax bill. I am wondering if this is just going to be a one-time thing that the department is going to be going around to the various communities that are having problems with this assessment initiative, and whether it should be a common practice for the department to keep the communication links with the partners and the communities open and transparent at all times with regard to assessment changes and changes in taxation policy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, this community consultation is not going to be a one-time thing, but we are not going to infringe on the communities that don't want to have these types of consultation. My department is going to be open for a request coming from them. As a former SAO, Madam Chair, I have tried, even when I was there at the municipal level, to try to educate my own municipal councillors as to what this whole assessment process that is used, what it means and how it reverts back to our municipal funding. Many of our SAOs do that for their own councillor so that their own municipal council will understand that whole taxation concept. Through our School of Community Government, part of their training reflects in that area. I can tell the Member that any community that wants to have our officials with the officials from the Department of Finance to come in and thoroughly explain or just to go there for question and answer period, we are willing to accommodate them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to go on to another point then, I am just wondering what the assessment section's initiative is on some possible changes on into the Property Assessment and Taxation Act and if they reviewed the act of late, but I know it is a pretty outdated act. It should be updated soon with regard to assessing more mining infrastructure projects and government projects such as dams and dykes and other projects with regards to earth works. I know that there is probably a fair number of dollars invested into putting this type of infrastructure in place. I am just wondering if the department has given any heavyweight into developing some amendments in the Property Assessment and Taxation Act that will allow them to recover some tax dollars from this infrastructure. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My colleague hit it right on the head of the nail. We are in the process of reviewing the Property Assessment and Taxation Act. We are going to do a full review. We are currently waiting for the consultant's report which will give us the basis to go the next step. It is currently in the works. We will look at all of these other areas that you mentioned; hydro, earth works, mining, et cetera. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. Mr. Villeneuve.

No, those are all the questions I have for now. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Next on my list, I have Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will try to stick to the topic here, which is in general comments. I have a couple of questions that are for the relevant page when we get to it. An area that I and others have talked about in the past and still keeps coming up is the issue of squatters and land availability at least in the Yellowknife area, Madam Chair. The long standing lack of resolution on land claims is, of course, the main barrier to being able to provide access for people to recreational properties. There is a significant demand. I think that is what is causing the increase in squatting and unauthorized land use. I know from my own experience, Madam Chair, my family has had a cabin at the Cassidy Point area on Prosperous Lake for many years now. We have noticed on that lake growing encroachment of people building structures of some kind. Some of them are quite sophisticated. They are not just temporary shelters, these are substantive properties. I know that it is also happening on other lakes on the Ingraham Trail and along Highway No. 3 between here and Rae. The committee's report refers to some action that the department is taking: a database of who may be or where incidents of unauthorized use are happening. It seems to be an extremely conservative approach to this. My understanding is that we do have laws, regulations and policies that give our government ample latitude to enforce policies that should not allow unauthorized use, for obvious reasons. For some time now, MACA and the Department of Transportation have been very reluctant to act on situations where there have been encroachments on their land.

It is a bit of a saw-off here, Madam Chair, to sit here and demand that we would use our enforcement authority to the maximum, remove these people and that is it. Be done with it. The government has done its job. Really, the solution, of course, lies in some kind of resolution with the First Nations and claimant organizations to permit this kind of access. There have been virtually no leases authorized for about 15 years or maybe more along the Ingraham Trail area. There is a bit of demand and, as I have said, I think that is what is causing the encroachment.

One of the reasons that people would choose to live in the Northwest Territories is the image we project of a vast, clean land accessible to all, a beautiful place to live and enjoy recreation and nature, but we just can't seem to find a way to make that a reality. I think this would be a new advantage to be able to put out there and say we have good policies that allow reasonable access and controlled access to our recreational areas.

This is a plea, Madam Chair, to get far more innovative with this whole area of access to land for recreation purposes, I am not going to advocate that we should go out and start throwing people off their properties. As I understand it, in some jurisdictions an unauthorized cabin or land is posted and, 30 days later the government could move in and burn it down. It is really simple and very easy for everybody to understand. There tends to be very little problem with squatters in some areas. I think we could do better than that. It doesn't seem that we are going to see a land claim settlement in the Yellowknife area for some time. But we do have interim land use protocols, I believe, with First Nations. Isn't it time we engaged and took a look at what could be done to everyone's advantage and benefit? I will leave it at that, Madam Chair, as a comment. If the Minister would like to respond, I would certainly like to hear about it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the issue the honourable Member for Great Slave raised is a concern. He may recall a number of chiefs -- Chief Edjericon is a chief in Detah and also the chief from Lutselk'e -- raised a whole concern on Ingraham Trail. It was about a year or a year-and-a-half ago. It is a big concern for First Nations. Through our consultation with Akaitcho Territory and with the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, our officials have been meeting on a regular basis to deal with that specific issue. Talks are ongoing. We haven't come to an agreement in writing, per se, as to where designated areas are going to be selected for other people's use so that we don't have squatters. There is a plan in place by the First Nations that they want to take a look at the whole corridor. They are going to start pre-selecting their areas that they are going to select through their claim process. We are going to have some sort of interim agreement prior to their final land claims so that we can address that particular issue that you raised so that we don't have any squatters.

As I indicated to the committee, we are monitoring the situation, where we did aerial photos. We know where people are. As you indicated, we are not going to go in there today or tomorrow and start burning down cabins and stuff like that. We are taking an approach where we are reasonable. We are trying to resolve this issue through the three parties, the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, MACA, and also the Akaitcho First Nations. So we are pursuing this whole issue, as you mentioned? Is it a concern to all groups, and are we on top of that file?

Thank you, Mr. Zoe. Anything further, Mr. Braden?

Sure, thank you. We are showing progress on it, and that is excellent. In the meantime, a quiet signal is out there that if you go out and start building somewhere, pick a piece of ground without asking any permission, chances are that you will get away with it and you won't have to worry about any consequences. I think this is where people are basically pushing the envelope, because no one is acting against them we are seeing more, and more, and more of this. What steps can we take to curb this growing trend until something comes into place? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, this is exactly as the Member is saying, people are not aware as to what is available to them. They take chances squatting, and that is the case right now because they don't want to tell us, or the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs if it is federal Crown land because they don't know the rules. So one of the initiatives that we are taking now so that the people understand, is that we are going to do a campaign between the territorial government and the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs to let the public know particularly in this corridor of the Ingraham Trail as to what is available and what is not available for recreational use. A lot of times people don't understand what recreational use means, and that is the problem.

Even with the current people who have recreational use leases, some of them ended up permanent residents, and the initial leases that were given out weren't meant for that, it was meant for a more recreational-type use. You go there weekends, or during the summertime, these types of things. The governments haven't been monitoring their leases effectively, and nowadays we are getting more people that are permanently living on recreational leases. That is a problem, but we are trying to rectify that now by the three-way communication between ourselves, Akaitcho Territory and the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, and even with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. Thank you.

Thank you. Next on the list for general comments I have Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Zoe.

Madam Chair, we do send out either our contractors to do the assessment or our own staff that do assessments. We send them into the community and they do an assessment right in the communities. These assessments are not done on a yearly basis. I believe currently we do it about every 10 years. That is how assessments are currently done. Thank you.