Mahsi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Earlier in my statement, I highlighted the University of Waterloo and their work with communities, especially in regards to small communities that have a very traditional base economy and rely on it in terms of their consumption of traditional foods. Here in the Northwest Territories, I think there's been a particular focus on climate change, because, you know, we all understand and know some of the visible evidence that we're experiencing in terms of global warming and its impact on the environment, especially the wildlife. There are some studies that are attempting to understand the contaminants in the food chain. My question is to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Can the Minister update and reassure this House that the GNWT is involved and has a clear role in the contaminants monitoring programs? Mahsi.

Mahsi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has a role in a number of areas. We have climate change. We have wildlife. We have other things that we're looking at, water, so I'm sure that would be something that we are looking into. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The barren land caribou in NWT has been significantly reduced. In the communities, we have challenges. The costs of goods are fairly high. Right now we're seeing the heavy beat of the mantra that we are in very dark economic times. What efforts are the Minister and his department making to continue to ensure that the traditional economy and the harvest of the traditional foods are promoted and enhanced?

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is always willing to work with all Aboriginal governments and communities on the harvesting of traditional foods. We have a couple of programs that we use to assist the communities and the people and I'm sure we will continue to do that to assist the Members.

Earlier I asked my first question to the Minister, and again, I'll reiterate that question. Can the Minister reassure this House and the public that there are measurements and efforts being made by his department to ensure and reassure the public that the level of contaminants in the traditional foods that are consumed mostly by small communities is not at a level that the public should be alarmed about?

I'd like to reassure the Member that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will work with the Department of Health to make sure that the contaminants, if they're coming into the food system, will be addressed through both departments.

Mahsi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister to outline, for this side of the House and the public: How will his department lead in terms of the framework of ensuring that discussions on contaminants and work with communities. Mahsi.

I will definitely be talking to the departments I related to this issue and we can get back to the Member on how we're going to proceed on that.

Mahsi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my statement today, agriculture has become a significant growth sector in the NWT economy in the last few years. It also has the added benefit of reducing food cost by substituting imported food. More growth is possible, but one of the limiting factors is the availability of the land. My question for the Minister of Lands is what plans the government has to make more land available in the NWT for agriculture and food production. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi. Minister of Lands.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We see that as a valuable opportunity to produce a lot of locally grown food across Northwest Territories. One of the things we would have to do is see the land claims, all land claims settle, so land might be made available for that. Also, we do our land use planning and we need to identify that. We have the Agricultural Strategy, which would help us identify some of the issues that we have to deal with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What I heard is that land will not be available in some areas until all land claims are settled. I’m wondering how we can sustain the growth of the agriculture sector if there is going to be no additional land available for the production of food.

What I said was that we would like to see all the land claims settled. That way, there might be more land available that is within their claims area. If it's not in their claims area, there are still opportunities to access lands that they could potentially use for agriculture. We have a lot of communities that have community gardens. I believe all 33 communities have community gardens. We have to continue to look at the options and try and promote and endorse the locally grown foods, and that would help the cost of living across the Northwest Territories.

I am still a little unclear. If I wanted to begin…

I’d like to remind Members to direct their questions through the Speaker, please.

I beg your pardon, Mr. Speaker. My question for the Minister is: If somebody wanted to grow food that they would later sell at the successful Yellowknife Farmers Market, how would they obtain land outside of the city to do that?

Right now, we are doing some work on our land use sustainability. If there are lands that are identified outside city limits and it suits the purpose or it’s for the purpose, then I would assume that they would put in an application. Again, I will have to confirm the actual process, and share it with the Members and committee, the actual process that they would have to go through, the conditions they might have to meet. I will commit to the Member and all Members that I will confirm all that information. I will be pleased to share it with them.

Mahsi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you for that commitment, Mr. Minister. My final question for the Minister is how decisions will be made about who gets access to the land for growing.

It would be application-based, and then each application will be looked at. Based on its merit, it will determine whether the application is approved or not, and the application process will go through the Department of Lands.