Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Because the directions from the motion are to the Legislative Assembly, then this side of the House will have a free vote on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, let me just make a few comments. One is that, yes, we do often take water for granted in our environment because we have so much of it and we have such good quality water that we use it everyday and don't think about it. But, Mr. Speaker, water issues are, in many ways, very related to the issues we talked about earlier on climate change because the two go hand in hand. The number of forest fires or the changes in wildlife patterns or vegetation patterns are often more tied to water than it is to anything else.

Mr. Speaker, I think water issues, more than anything else, are going to challenge us as political leaders in how we manage the issues because water has to be dealt with regionally, it has to be dealt with nationally, it has to be dealt with globally. I don't think Alberta can control and have full decision-making over its water, nor can the Northwest Territories, nor can Saskatchewan or anybody else. It has to be broader than that because we must look at it at least as a basin. We know all the waters that flow into here come from as far away as the Yukon and British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan. So we have to work with other jurisdictions, Mr. Speaker, on the control of water. It's not something that we should want to have our own total control over the waters in the Northwest Territories, because if we do that then so will the other jurisdictions and none of us have control over where rain falls or where the water flows within the basins.

It's important for us to look at it regionally. I think that's the most urgent need for us, both in terms of quality and quantity. It's important for us not just to look at the water itself on the ground, but also to consider issues around airborne pollutants as well that cross many, many borders. Certainly it is an international issue.

Mr. Speaker, let me say that I appreciate the motion as brought forward today and I think it's one that we have to look at seriously ourselves as legislators and consider how we're going to deal with it because, in my mind, to repeat myself, it is not something that each jurisdiction should have unilateral control over, but rather it's a shared responsibility we all have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. To the motion. The honourable Member from Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All the discussion of water has made me thirsty. Can I have a sip?

Mr. Speaker, the issue of water and the motion, it's hard not to support a motion such as this that is so vital to an individual, whether in this country, in this territory or in another country in the world, we are blessed with an abundance of it. You look in other countries and the fact is they're drilling in desserts to try to find fresh water. We've become an inventive race because we're taking sea water, salt water, and trying to make it into drinkable water for our own use.

Mr. Speaker, back to the home front, I can recall as a child travelling with my parents on the Mackenzie River, on the Beaufort Sea when we hunted and we trapped. Whether it was the summer or the winter, it brings back a lot of memories, as I said earlier, about what value we place in this precious resource. I recall many times travelling with my father, with my parents and stopping on the shore and having shore lunch, and as we heard earlier, making that pot of coffee or that pot of tea and have to wait for the water to settle because you didn't want to get all of the sand and the mud with it. At least from my end of the country, we got everything that floated down river it seemed. So some places where the water is blue, that same water isn't quite as blue when you go further down, and it goes to the earlier comment about we can't control it all. So it's something that we have to take seriously.

As I recall not only from that, but my interest grew from there of being interested in tourism and it brought me a lot of joy when I took people out as part of our small family tourism outfit, brought them out on the water, showed them the land we travelled and told them stories about my father and the way he lived and hunted on this land and this great resource we had. So it was that interest that I got involved and shared those stories with those that would come to visit with us. So that interest in my own culture and my own history and that of my father's of how he lived. I'll have to go back and quote -- and God bless his soul -- a colleague of ours that has passed on, Mr. Vince Steen. He's been in the media in the past of something he said and it's so very true, the fact that no matter how much we try, we will never get back to how we lived 30 or 40 years ago. That's something that we have to take into consideration as we have this discussion, as we plan and as we make decisions as we talk about what kind of legislation we would bring in place. So it's with that in mind we must also think about our past and how our past has prepared us for our future. I got involved talking about my past, involved at a grassroots level, and that was with the Inuvik Hunters and Trappers Committee and, again, with my father's history and the history of our people in the North of looking at things as they were changing. Back when my father talked about when he went travelling on the east branch of the Mackenzie River and when he went muskrat hunting in the spring and as he travelled back to his camp he travelled with an 18-foot canoe with a one and a half horsepower motor. Well today, nowadays, Mr. Speaker, you'll see young people travelling with 150 horsepower outboard motors, truck engines, what they would have never thought be inside boats, jet boats, snowmobiles that will travel more than 100 miles an hour. Mr. Speaker, that shows how things have changed and how we even as our own people in our own backyards, never mind everybody else, but in our own backyards we make decisions that affect the very lives that our children will live.

So it was with that interest as a member of the hunters and trappers that got involved with the issues that were before us and when there was discussions about land use, how we used, how we hunted and how we operated and how we were as a people. Let's not forget, water brings us life, Mr. Speaker, but it also can bring death in a number of areas, not only from drinking it, but from travelling on it. That just showed us the standards of life

we had in the Northwest Territories and that we hold today. So it's even with that, it's not just the drinking of it, it's how we use it day to day and the respect we must have for our land and the water that we travel and live with.

Mr. Speaker, when we talk about managing it, it's something we have to know at this level, at this table, on this floor. We talk about managing, and that's why we, as a government, and past governments got involved in that decision-making, in land use plan and what we had to do as a government. So let's not forget about the changes that have occurred in our society and the laws that have been put in place, because today, Mr. Speaker, today we will not have another Giant Mine situation occurring in the Northwest Territories. Today we'll not have uranium mines built in the conditions they were.

Mr. Speaker, past decisions by other people have caused us to be burdened with some sad history in how we try to protect our future. I've heard Mr. Miltenberger on a number of occasions talk about the millions of tons of arsenic buried right under this fine city we call the capital of the Northwest Territories. So we must look at that and how those decisions are made and how we get involved in making those decisions. Also, as our Premier stated, we must be realistic in what we can accomplish as one jurisdiction, as one territory. We, in the North, have been impacted by people who have made decisions for us, by decisions made further south. Right from the earliest days, before the creation of the Northwest Territories, when the trappers or the hunters came forward to take our furs in a sense of not only using them for sustaining your life from day to day, but to make it a valuable resource. I recall my father telling me stories about when the first trappers and traders came up. It wasn't about no matter how many muskrat pelts or how many beaver pelts that you got and they said if you wanted that rifle you get to trade a few. As they brought some in and said well this is enough, the trader would turn his rifle up lengthwise and say no, you have to match the height of the barrel. That's how things started happening in the Northwest Territories.

So as we sit around this table and we begin to take more and more control of what we have in the Northwest Territories, we have take into consideration our past and how those decisions were made and how we're affected by that and how we will make the decisions moving forward. We've had others tell us how it can be done, and how it must be done and I've just given that example of how things were done in the past and how they can no longer be done in the Northwest Territories. But we must also be very aware we in the Northwest Territories are not an island unto ourselves and we don't live in a bubble. Everything that happens within Canada affects us. I remember as a young man when I first heard the discussion of acid rain I thought to myself living in the Northwest Territories blue skies, clear water, fresh air to breathe, how can that be happening? Not here in the Northwest Territories. But as I did more research and looking at it finding out the impacts of the rest of this country have on us in the Northwest Territories. So it's trying to sit back and say we can make it happen here in the Northwest Territories. We can have an impact and we can help make some decisions or help those that make decisions understand the situations we live in.

So we have our jobs cut out for us, Mr. Speaker, on how we move forward and what we need to do as a government, but we also have to realize we've come a long way in a short time. The rest of Canada, the rest of the world has taken a long time, generations, to change the way they've done things and the decisions they've made. We can do it and we can have an impact this very day in how we do things, not only by making this motion, which is a good one, but it's how we move forward from there and how we influence the decision-makers in the rest of the country and how we hold them accountable. We can talk about holding ourselves accountable but, like I said, we don't live in a bubble and we don't control how the water flows in and out of the Northwest Territories. We can have a say, but its how much of that say gets translated into decision-making by other jurisdictions. So we have to be realistic in what we set as examples, but the truth is, we have to start standing up and saying our piece and being heard at all levels, not only at the regional level and the territorial level, but letting the rest of Canada hear us and what we say and the directions we need to have set that will impact us on a daily basis. With that, I will be supporting the motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Roland. To the motion. The honourable Member from Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just briefly want to speak in support of the motion. Something that crossed my mind today when we talked about the words of the elders -- and Mr. Yakeleya and Mr. Lafferty made reference to it -- in the treaties it talked about the rights that were being conveyed being in effect as long as the sun shone and as long as the rivers flowed and I guess they had the foresight to understand that if the rivers didn't flow anymore there was no need to talk about it because we won't be here when the rivers stop flowing, we'll be gone, we won't have anything to sustain life if the rivers stop flowing. I think that's an interesting phrase and probably showed a lot of foresight on their part when they said that.

When we talk about water as a human right, I think we need to then take the next step and think about water and how we share, it may not be actually sharing our water as a resource, it may be sharing the technology, which is out there and very much modern technology about wells, about catching water, about water treatment and this can be done on a very small scale and can help communities and I think we need to think of Canadians and as northerners about sharing that kind of technology that can help people access clean water in different parts of the world. It's also been noted in our recent discussions that water is a resource for which there is no price tag. We don't assess the value. If you give someone a water permit, there's no economic value attached to the use of that water; a very strange phenomenon when you think about it. When we talk about water costs we talk about the costs of water treatment or water delivery, we talk about warming water to a certain temperature to go into our municipal distribution systems, but we don't ever think about there being an actual economic value to that water. We are so blessed with so much water in this country that we consider water to be free. In fact it's interesting that the folks that are working on the boreal initiative have assessed what our ecosystem around this part of the country is actually worth in terms of dollars. We don't think like that. We think that nature is out there, it's free for the taking and we don't value it in terms of economic

sense and I believe we should because it's a sobering thought.

Anyway, we're here on this planet. I think if we were all to walk softly and leave as minimal an imprint as possible and to protect the resources. I think this is a good motion and I've already spoken to the issue of how we need, as a government, to make other governments aware and join in, really, the chorus of people that are emerging with a message about clean air, clean water and a good environment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member from Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi cho...(English not provided)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to say that the MLA from Thebacha raised a very important motion supported by all his colleagues here today and that's the issue of water. Without water it's just basic understanding that our land can die. I will be supporting the motion and will work with this Legislature in developing the appropriate public policy to make life, water quality and quantity a certainty for ourselves and for our future.

Once again, I would like to thank the Member for that motion and the House for their support of this. I stand in support as well. Mahsi.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. To the motion. The honourable Member from Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll be brief on this issue. I certainly appreciate the level of concern around this issue. It's really timely given that we've been able to make some headway with some of our transboundary agreements.

Mr. Speaker, I represent the riding called the Deh Cho, which means big river and we really pride ourselves on being able to live off the river and have lived with the river and it has been the lifeline of our communities and many communities around the lake and all the way down the Mackenzie. There's a serious concern out there by members of the North that water is being affected in the quantity and the quality and the number of projects that are out there are really bringing this to the forefront. I think, Mr. Speaker, we have to look back historically that there has been an effect. I think the Member from Boot Lake raised the issue that acid rain has been an issue. I remember 20 years ago, as a band manager, seeing reports that showed that in the Mackenzie River, the community where I grew up in, that there was traces of acid rain, which showed that there was a certain level of insecticide that was used in the cotton fields in Alabama that were showing up in the water already. So it's been there for awhile. It's something that we need to take concern about. There are a number of issues, the oil sands, the Bennett dam, hydro dams are all coming to the forefront. Communities, especially in the South, have really been coming forward with concerns.

We certainly take this seriously and we, as a department, are expressing that this is a public resource that needs to be protected. Other aboriginal governments have come forward and also done a lot of initiatives on their own, held conferences, brought in people to talk about issues that are around water. A big one is contamination from the southern provinces. I spoke a little bit about how we need to have agreements.

Mr. Speaker, we also have to look internally. Not all the water flows from the south. We have water that comes from some of the mountains. This past fall, we had the opportunity to visit the community of Deline and look at the Bear River. That's probably the cleanest water in the world. The water is so clear you can see the bottom of the river and see the fish swimming. How do we protect those things? Those kinds of things we also have to look at. There are a number of things we have to do before we can even start finalizing our agreements. We have to be able to demonstrate what is there in terms of baseline. Are all the studies that are required in place? How long is that going to take? What streams cross the different jurisdictions? What kind of monitoring stations have to be in place? There is a lot of work that has to be done. It's time we got in front of this issue and I think all the Members here have demonstrated that this is one of the bigger issues that are facing us as a government and as a people in the North. I certainly want to say that I support that.

We've seen three new projects get approved this past year. All expansion projects that affect water and water quality in the Northwest Territories. There are many things to do.

The state of the aquatic ecosystem report shows our water is still very good. It still has good quality. We have to maintain that. We have to be able to follow up on some of the actions that give us direction that we have to work with the harvesters, we have to work with our residents to make sure they understand what the health of the ecosystem means. It will take everybody to work towards it. Blaming one government or another is just not acceptable. We need the Government of the Northwest Territories, we need the Government of Canada and the other provincial governments to work hand in hand with agreements that will protect us and give us comfort that we will be able to have good quality water and good quantity.

Mr. Speaker, those are my comments on this issue. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. To the motion. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, will be supporting the motion. With regard to the whole area of water management and ensuring we have a say in the process, I think we do have a tool. We have to continue to build on the Mackenzie basin agreement, which was signed by five jurisdictions which includes Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC, Northwest Territories and Yukon. I think it's important that we do more to monitor the quality of the water that flows in this basin. More importantly, ensuring that industrial development that does take place in the basin is

monitored in such a way that any heavy metals or contaminants are avoided from spilling into a water basin.

I think the Mackenzie River basin is unique in the context that it's one of the larger basins in the world, but, more importantly, development in most basins have originated from the mouth of the river going up to the headwaters of those river systems around the world. In our case, it's the other way around. The developments are happening in the headwaters and flowing downstream through the Northwest Territories and back out to the Arctic Ocean. With those developments happening upstream, that's the concern we have to be aware of.

I think, more importantly, the Minister touched on the whole area of monitoring and the quality and quantity of water that is out there. I had an opportunity to serve on the Gwich'in Management Water Board and I found it very alarming that the federal government cut back a number of years ago on all these water monitoring stations throughout the Territories. The only one that we are aware of that affected the Mackenzie Delta area was a water station that was up at Snake River which is in the Peel River watershed. Again, through these monitoring systems, we have to do a better job of monitoring, realizing that we are seeing more heavy metals in our fish, in the whales in the Arctic Ocean, which feed at the mouth of the Mackenzie River. Yet, these things are becoming more...(inaudible)...development out there.

Mr. Speaker, we also have to realize that we have to take advantage of the agreements that we do have. I did mention the Mackenzie River basin agreement. We have land claim agreements which clearly spell out aboriginal water rights, which talk about the quality and quantity, rate of flow, compensation. Those things are already in legislation. We have to vote on those. We have to implement those agreements, but, more importantly, continue to build on those types of agreements.

Mr. Speaker, we also have to ensure there our co-management systems work in conjunction with whatever we do in whatever. Whatever we do in water, we have to ensure that the land use plans conform to the water management agreements and vice versa. Also, we have to keep in mind that the land use plans that are being developed ensure that we have protected areas in certain water bodies or water bodies that flow into water bodies, that we have a system that co-exists with other agencies, boards, and also ensuring that the general public is involved in this.

Again, like I mentioned earlier, we have seen the affects by industrial development over the last 30 years in the Mackenzie basin by way of the Bennett dam. We talk about industrial development such as what is going on in Fort McMurray. There is major concern around the Norman Wells development with regard to the Mackenzie River years ago and that development still exists.

More importantly, there is a lot of heavy metals being explored with regard to gold, silver, uranium and these things also used water with regard to those developments and again what happens to the water once it's processed through the mills and also where they end up. Again, we do have to ensure that we have an arrangement with all stakeholders. I know it's important that we do involve industry, the general public, aboriginal groups, more importantly ensuring that our governments work closer together to sign off these agreements. There have been only two agreements signed off between the Yukon and Northwest Territories. There have been drafts done up between Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. Again, they did not commit themselves to signing any authority away. I think we have to realize it's more than authority; it's a mechanism to ensure that we have to safeguard the water sources that affect not only our jurisdiction but five other jurisdictions in Canada.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting this motion. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. To the motion. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to start by commending the Members opposite for bringing this motion forward. I think not only this motion but the one prior, the motion on climate change. The two motions, Mr. Speaker, really can be looked at collectively because they are one in the same. We need to make strides and take steps to protect our environment and if we are able to do so, we are going to ensure that we have drinking water for generations to come; the water that, as Members have pointed out, we rely on for everyday life.

Mr. Speaker, I had the chance last week in Ottawa to represent our government at the launch of the International Polar Year. Many northerners in attendance, researchers, scientists from around the world, talking about climate change and the impact it will have on Arctic and Antarctic jurisdictions, talking about not only the affects of climate change but about the vast amount of fresh water that was locked up in the North and the need to protect it. They had a number of questions for me, for our government, and we are very interested because they know, Mr. Speaker, that northerners are at the forefront of the decisions that are taken today and will feel the impacts first, of course, of climate change. We will feel the ramifications if we are not active in protecting our water, our fresh water. We have seen what can happen around the world when we don't get it right, Mr. Speaker, not only in foreign countries but right here at home. We can see in our port cities, we can see in the Great Lakes, the mistakes that are made if we allow industrial development, if we allow human activity to go unchecked. I think it's incumbent on us to put in place, Mr. Speaker, the number of safeguards and checks and balances that we need to see to protect our environment.

We talked today about the need for devolution, for us to get more control from the federal government over our lands, our water and our resources. Mr. Speaker, I think none of us will rest until that's the case. But it isn't enough for us to throw up our hands in frustration and suggest we don't have the jurisdiction. We can all do our part to lobby this country, to make sure we are on the consciousness of Canada and ensure that people recognize that we are not going to stand by idly, Mr. Speaker, and allow the degradation and erosion of our environment and that includes our water, Mr. Speaker.

So let me thank the Members of this House for bringing forward the two motions. Of course, the one that we weren't able to speak to, Mr. Speaker, and vote on, but I want to say that it's critical that we look at these two motions in tandem, we support them collectively, we continue to send the sentiments to the rest of the country

and continue to send the message that it is critical for our survival here in the North. It is critical that we demand industry start to take the steps to reduce emissions, Mr. Speaker, and I think northerners can lead that charge. I think we are showing that here today and I know that the rest of the country is watching. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Bell. To the motion. I will go to the honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, will be voting in favour of this motion and I would like to also thank the Members for bringing forward the two motions this afternoon.

I think it shows the importance of this motion and the one before it in that all Members of this House have spoken in favour of the motion. So that tells you that everybody here sees it as being very important. I won't repeat the many good reasons that have already been articulated by my colleagues. I will just note that water is extremely important to all of us, both for our human health and for transportation. In the North here, we are blessed with lots and lots of good water. It is a very fragile resource. As many have noted, we can't protect it on our own. We need to seek the assistance and cooperation of other jurisdictions who are upstream from us.

This motion is an important statement for this Assembly and it says that we have the responsibility as legislators to lead the way. Mr. Speaker, I see this motion and us passing it as an important first step. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Dent. To the motion. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I stand today in support of the motion. I would like to thank Mr. Miltenberger and Mr. Villeneuve for coming out and putting forward this motion. I think water is very important and essential to the basic things of life. I am looking forward to voting on this motion in support of it. It's important because we have the Mackenzie River, the Athabasca River and the whole Beaufort Sea out there.

Mr. Speaker, water flows and it can still affect all the Beaufort Sea, so it's vital for us. Also, Mr. Speaker, although in Tuk we get our water from Kudluk Lake that is piped across into our reservoir, with all the chemicals that are put into the reservoir, why would people still go out into the lakes and get fresh ice? I know how important water is to everybody. I just want to stand today in support of the motion and say thank you to my colleagues. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. I will recognize the mover of the motion to close debate on the motion. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for Tu Nedhe for seconding this motion and I would like to thank all Members of this House for their comments and the good discussion we've had today. This motion is clearly linked to the one we just passed.

I have been in this Legislature for eleven and a half years and this is the first time we've ever had this kind of debate about something as fundamental as the issue of water and the things that are happening with climate change. Clearly this forum can do the work that it has to. I believe, Mr. Speaker, that this motion, along with the one we just passed, will give us a foundation as we go forward to work with the aboriginal governments, the other northern stakeholders as well as all our neighbouring jurisdictions to sort out the many issues that are before us when it comes to water and climate change. I would like to thank everybody and I would like to ask, Mr. Speaker, if we could have a recorded vote. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The motion is on the floor. The motion is in order. The Member has asked for a recorded vote. All those in favour, please stand.

All those opposed, please stand. All those abstaining, please stand. The results of the recorded vote: 16 in favour; zero opposed, zero abstaining. The motion is carried.

---Carried