Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my final question is: how do the agreement-in-principle and current negotiations uphold the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous People? Quyanainni, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier this week, the successful conclusion of modern treaties and self-government agreements can be seen as the ultimate expression of free prior and informed consent among partners. The Government of Canada's recent adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People is an encouraging and tangible demonstration of the federal government's renewed commitment to Canada's Aboriginal people.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are a follow up to my Member’s statement for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. As I mentioned in my Member statement, in 2014, the community of Fort McPherson put in a proposal for the fire break for the community, as it is in the approval process. Then the NWT was hit with record-breaking fires that year. So I would like to ask the Minister: what is the status of work towards building a fire break in Fort McPherson? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have to look into that particular community for the Member and get back to him on what the status is for the Fort McPherson fire break. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know the latest NWTAC's meeting as well, they're in full support of preparing all our communities for with fire breaks and doing their part as well. I'd also like to ask the Minister: Tsiigehtchic's 2010 community wildland fire protection plan recommends a building of a new break. What is the status of that project as well?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and same with that particular one. Wildland fire protection plans are a shared responsibility in Northwest Territories. They are jointly with the Department of Municipal, MACA, ENR, and also the local community governments, so I'll have to confer with my colleague and see what the status is on that and with the local government.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd also like to thank the department for reinstating the fire crew in Tsiigehtchic. It was out of commission for a few years. It started last year, but people are working there once again, and I would like to thank them. I would also like to ask the Minister, how is the department using this unusual quiet month to prepare the rest of the fire season?

We have ongoing efforts to train and maintain our equipment and personnel for the fire season, so it's an ongoing effort that is continually working throughout the seasons. Like I said in my Minister's statement earlier today, we have taken the opportunity to send a number of our personnel to Alberta to help in their wildfire season, so it's a significant contribution that the Government of the Northwest Territories has done to help Alberta. We continue to work on them on a daily basis.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister: will the community of Fort McPherson have to submit another proposal or will the department just act on the proposal that they had in 2014? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have stated earlier, I will have to confer with MACA and the local government to see where we are at on that process and have a look at it.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I should ask this question to the Minister of ENR, but I'll address it to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Yesterday the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs did a Minister's statement about the Federal Infrastructure Funding Program for the NWT community governments. It was great to hear the department was able to access the small community funds which is part of the New Building Canada Plan, Provincial- Territorial Infrastructure Component. Mr. Speaker, thank God, lots of words, can the Minister please provide this House on what the definition of a small community is according to the New Building Canada Plan, Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know there are seven of us over here, right? Mr. Speaker, the definition of a small community, as defined by the federal government under the Provincial and Territorial Infrastructure Component and Small Communities Fund, is communities with a population of under $100,000 -- or, 100,000 people. Thank you.

I was getting excited, there. $100,000, I don't think we could afford to use this program at all. I thank the Minister for that answer. As a federal program, there is a cost-sharing component to access them. Can the Minister provide the House with what is the cost-share for this program in the communities and/or GNWT?

I will just clarify it's 100,000 people, not dollars, and the federal portion cannot exceed 75 per cent. Thank you.

The federal component, 75 per cent, I would like to ask the Minister, what is the communities' share and/or the GNWT's share?

My apologies. The federal portion cannot exceed 75 per cent. The communities' share would obviously then be 25 per cent. But what a lot of communities will use is the money that we give them to leverage a lot of the federal funding. So we give out $28 million to communities to help with their infrastructure, so they are able to use that to leverage -- that's their 25 per cent to leverage the other 75 per cent from the federal government.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Mr. Speaker, I know that he's my favourite Minister. It seems this week I seem to be asking him a lot of the questions. Next week, I'll find another one, maybe. Well, finance is next week, too. Sorry, he'll be back.

--- Laughter

In the Minister's statement, he spoke about how Municipal and Community Affairs will issue a call for the funding applications in the coming weeks and will support community governance through the Canada application and approval process. Can the Minister please explain what the department means by supporting community governance with this process? Thank you.

We provide support to the communities in a number of different ways. We help them with completing applications for the small community funding from co-ordinated work between our regional staff and headquarters staff. For larger projects, on a case-by-case basis, MACA can provide advice through helping communities hire project managers, reviewing designs with them, and RFPs, and then the regional managers of capital planning will also help communities complete their quarterly reports and claim forms. So we provide a lot of assistance to the communities, and they are very appreciative of that. I always like to say, at the end of the day, the final decision, the ultimate decision, is the communities to make, and we will support them in any way that we can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.