Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On April 1, 2014, the NWT achieved our long sought after goal of devolution, and with devolution the GNWT accepted seven pieces of federal legislation as our own. We established NWT acts that mirrored the federal acts.

At the time many residents expressed concern about adopting these laws exactly as written by the federal government, unchanged and unevaluated. Many questioned when the legislation would be evaluated, when it would be amended to suit the NWT, our unique government and territory. We certainly heard a commitment from the Premier to review the seven pieces of devolution legislation. I think he was asked three or four times to make that commitment, but commit did, in keeping with the saying we heard many times last year that we would first devolve, then evolve. Consultation was promised and amendments seemingly forthcoming after that.

But the commitment was a hollow one, Mr. Speaker. To date there has been no indication that these seven acts will see an evolution anytime soon and the consultation has been minimal. There’s a link on the GNWT website which allows for residents to send in questions or comments about devolution, but nothing else that I’m aware of.

A far greater commitment to consultation and action is needed. We need a commitment to face-to-face consultation, a commitment to in-depth analysis of each one of the devolution bills to determine what amendments are needed, a commitment to bring amendments forward as soon as possible and a commitment to public hearings or forums so residents, NGOs and businesses can discuss these acts and the changes needed.

We Members know that there’s a long list of legislation, other than the devo bills, that needs

updating, amending, or new laws that need to be built from scratch, and we know that the government has a priority list of what legislation should be tackled when. So, is there a schedule for consideration and revision of the legislation we inherited from Canada? We’ve not seen any evidence of that. We’re approaching the one year anniversary of devolution. I believe there should have been some action, some movement on this by now, yet there is not. Are we as a government concerned for the NWT and our environment, or are we happy to carry on, safe in a devolved territory, hanging on to the coattails of the federal legislation and willing to ignore the need for legislative change?

If we do care, effecting legislative change in the mirrored devolution legislation very soon will prove that to our people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.