Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to do two quick things. I’d like to just give a bit more context and then speak to some of the specifics of the work that’s being done.
In the last Assembly there was a recognition that we were moving towards devolution, and it was going to come and we need to get our thinking clear, and we started the work on the Land Use and Sustainability Framework, we started the work on the Water Strategy, we enhanced and increased our efforts to get the Wildlife Act done. We accomplished those things so that as we moved forward to take over the authorities we’re talking about here today, we were ready. That we are not starting from a blank sheet of paper trying to get our thinking clear at a time when people expect us to be productive and ready to manage.
When we started the 17th Assembly, we laid out
publicly that we were going to be working on a guidance document, what we saw as the best practices that needed to be done as we were going to take over authorities for oil and gas, and we had to deal with hydraulic fracturing. We said this publicly and we committed to timelines. There was some slippage, but the work was done. It was an intense amount of work. It was done in conjunction with working with SCEDI, and we went back and forth on the work. We resulted in what was released in this House earlier in this session by Minister Ramsay as it pertains to best practices, the commitment to go out and consult. The plan always was clear, this document with the Legislative Assembly, then we are going to go out to industry and the public, and that is what now we are intending to do.
In regard to specific things that are underway as we do this work, since we need to keep moving and we can’t put everything into neutral, I just want to lay out some of the things we are doing.
The GNWT has spent, committed or facilitated third-party funding of almost $4 million for monitoring activities focused on quantifying baseline environmental conditions in the Sahtu since 2013.
The Sahtu Environmental Research and Monitoring Forum provides a revenue for community research needs to be communicated to industry, the GNWT and Canada.
Wildlife research and monitoring is underway in the Sahtu. We have completed the first of a proposed four-year project to examine four research teams related to wildlife and wildlife habitat.
Field-based studies were done in 2013 to collect information related to forest disturbance and biological diversity. Existing research will be consolidated into a geospatial database this year.
The forum will also convene an experts’ workshop and cross-cultural research camp in 2014 to
develop a database of regional traditional knowledge.
Funding was also provided for a project to consolidate all existing knowledge regarding surface and groundwater monitoring in these areas under consideration for increased oil and gas exploration activity in the Sahtu. This project will prepare a geospatial data management plan to integrate and provide the basis for mapping ground and surface water data. Traditional knowledge from the area will also be sought to gain local insights into key ground and surface water considerations. A contract has already been issued to conduct this work.
This is just some of the work being undertaken by industry, the GNWT and Canada to collect the needed baseline information for the Sahtu region. Data and information gathered through the exploration phase of shale oil extraction is vital in the collection of baseline data, which is important in determining the environmental impacts of shale oil extraction in the Sahtu. There have been, and will continue to be, numerous opportunities for the communities to engage in discussions with industry, regulators and government on hydraulic fracturing. We encourage people and need to have to be actively engaged in these discussions to ensure we are looking at the sustainable development of our natural resources for the benefit of all residents.