Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about an Arctic Leadership Model, and I have questions for the Minister responsible for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. Mr. Speaker, my first question to the Premier is, will the Premier engage in Arctic Council activities advocating for Indigenous peoples' involvement for the Arctic Leadership Model? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Honourable Premier.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories actively participates as part of the Canadian delegation of the Arctic Council and their continued advocacy for a strengthened capacity of the permanent participants. As a government, we will continue to work with Canada on areas of common interest, however there is not a separate or formal role for territorial governments in this forum, however we do have officials that participate and we attend as there is an identified role for our presence. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate that response. My second question is what will define the positive change in the chapter for the Arctic?

I have had the opportunity to discuss with Mary Simon on her work on the Shared Arctic Leadership Model. Ms. Simon is still working on her report and recommendations for Minister Bennett, which I believe will be delivered in December of 2016. We see a great deal of potential in the Arctic, but it requires a broad range of support from Canada, including support for communities and Indigenous organizations.

A key priority to further positive change is to continue to enhance our control over our own destiny as Northerners, including transitioning important legislation like the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act from Canada to the Northwest Territories. I should also point out that the IRC benefitted from the resource revenue sharing component of the devolution agreement. It's our understanding that Arctic Council and Arctic Leadership Models are two separate, and potentially unrelated, activities both led by Canada. As the Member knows, Arctic Council is international, the Arctic leadership model is a domestic process led by Mary Simon for Minister Bennett.

I appreciate the response from the Premier. Mr. Speaker, my final question for the Premier is what are the GNWT's key priorities to address and strengthen the resilience of our communities?

The Government of the Northwest Territories' vision for a sustainable Arctic is one of balance. The Government of the Northwest Territories is focused on advancing social, cultural, environmental and economic priorities of the Northwest Territories. It is this balance of priorities and collaborative approach to working with our Aboriginal government partners as well as Canada that will allow the people and communities of the Northwest Territories to become stronger, healthier and, therefore, more prosperous.

The best way to demonstrate Arctic sovereignty is to have healthy sustainable communities in the Northwest Territories. The Government of the Northwest Territories is focused on encouraging prosperity and self-sufficiency of our people and communities. The role of the territorial government in achieving this is authority over land, water and resources and working in partnership with our Aboriginal government partners and Canada to ensure all communities have access to the same high level of programs and services.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I made my statement on Market Housing in Small Communities, so my question is to the Minister of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. The disruption of existing local markets are a fact to consider when the Housing Corporation is considering bringing new units into a non-market community. Mahsi.

Masi. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I would like to be able to say, yes, we do consider it. There have been a few mistakes on the department's side. We were asked many years ago to actually bring in market housing to the communities to support professionals, nurses, doctors, social workers, school teachers. The reality is once we did the assessment, and then it took a couple years to actually build the units there, some of the gaps were filled. So we're actually currently looking at the communities that have market rentals we're actually looking at our own rentals and seeing if we can reallocate those.

I've heard of potential rental rates of up to $1,400 per month for a market rental unit in Fort Providence. Can the Minister confirm the rental rate for a market rental unit in this community?

I can't confirm the actual market rental in Fort Providence itself because each community is different, but I can confirm that as part of this survey, and actually even before the survey, we are conducting a total review of all of our rental for accommodations in every single community, so we're in the process of doing that now.

I'd like to thank the Minister for her reply. The unfortunate reality is we have an empty unit in Fort Providence. Who has been paying for fuel, utilities, and other maintenance in the empty modular unit in Fort Providence since it was brought into the community in January 2016?

The NWT Housing Corporation is responsible for making sure that any unit that we have, usable or not, is actually maintained. So we provide the cost of the utilities when they aren't occupied.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question is to the Minister. The Minister had indicated that mistakes were made in terms of communicating the intentions of the market housing in small communities. Could the Minister commit to embarking upon improving communications, and at same time perhaps reviewing its consultations with small communities on market housing? Mahsi.

I should clarify. When I say mistakes were made, it's not that we made a mistake in asking if we needed them at the time. It's just that it does take a couple of years for us to do the business plan and then get the units constructed, so we did err in that way. But it wasn't a mistake to put the units in.

Can we consult on the small communities? Absolutely. We are just in the process, like I had done in my Minister's statement earlier, that we're in the process of rolling out our engagement survey, which will ask each community what type of housing that they need in their community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Masi. Minister of Lands.

Mr. Speaker, Lands has really no role in this issue. As these are privately owned lands, they are under private fee simple title, I understand. I would expect that the owners of those lands are responsible for the remediation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Now that we've got that clear, can the Minister of Lands indicate what is the general regime for remediation of contaminated sites that are on privately owned lands in the Northwest Territories?

I understand, with respect to situations in which there are water licenses, it's ENR's responsibility to inspect. The terms and conditions are set by the various boards and ENR then inspects to ensure compliance.