Thank you for the opportunity to speak to Bill 2, Archaeological Sites Act. The passage of this legislation is an important step towards implementing the Northwest Territories Lands and Resources Devolution Agreement.
The Archaeological Sites Act will provide the Northwest Territories with the authority to mirror the Northwest Territories Archaeological Sites Regulations under the Northwest Territories Act. The mirroring of these regulations is a requirement of the Devolution Agreement.
Under the Devolution Agreement, the GNWT is committed to “substantially mirror” Canada’s statutes and regulations that are being repealed or made inapplicable to public lands transferring to the GNWT through devolution.
The mirroring exercise means that the new GNWT laws will address the same matters, in substantially the same way, as federal laws do now. Mirroring principles limited changes to addressing issues such as correcting outdated language and applying GNWT drafting standards.
Mirrored legislation is a practical first step to ensure a continued delivery of services on April 1, 2014. Mirrored legislation also ensures that there are no legislative gaps or overlaps between the GNWT and Canada.
The parties to the Devolution Agreement entered into a Protocol for Review of Devolution Legislation. Under this protocol, all parties have had the opportunity to review and comment on this legislation before it was introduced in the Legislative Assembly. We have considered these comments carefully in preparation of the bill before you.
The Archaeological Sites Act mirrors the provisions of the present Northwest Territories Act respecting archaeological, ethnological and historical resources, and provides authority to make regulations concerning the protection, care and preservation of these resources, archaeological permitting, and seizure of inappropriately obtained items.
As required in the Devolution Agreement, the Government of the Northwest Territories will also mirror the Northwest Territories Archaeological
Sites Regulations that are currently under the Northwest Territories Act.
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment will administer the new mirrored Archaeological Sites Act and the regulations under that act, consistent with its responsibilities for the existing territorial Historical Resources Act.
I would be pleased to answer any questions Members may have.