Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the deputy minister for that clarification. I feel that that's well appreciated and certainly look forward to it coming forward to standing committees for further input. Mr. Chair, I wonder similarly, as it relates to the establishment of the Thaidene Nene Park, can the department please maybe let us know where or what the status of that establishment is, who our partners are, what each partner's role is, and is there still opportunity for the public to provide its views and opinions and input on the establishment of the park? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Debates of June 9th, 2016
This is page numbers 493-524 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was work.
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Campbell
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thaidene Nene is in a similar process as the conservation plan, we're running it through the process. We, again, had pause to settle negotiations as a result of a transition period, the previous election, et cetera. We now are running through the system and we'll have clearer direction through that process and which will allow us shortly afterwards to start the negotiating process to complete Thaidene Nene. Again, we expect hopefully we can complete Thaidene Nene in the next short while. We feel we're not that far off from completing Thaidene Nene. As far as the negotiations of course we keep in contact with our partners and, again, just to inform them that a commitment is still there, that we will be back engaging with negotiations very shortly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North
Thank you, Mr Chair. Thank you to the deputy minister for that. Further, I'm wondering, do we have specific partners on this? When we say the term negotiate, with whom are we negotiating? What is that process? Is it with these partners? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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Campbell
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The negotiating partners for Thaidene Nene is primarily the Akaitcho, being of course Lutselk'e, Yellowknife Dene First Nation, Fort Resolution. We also are having negotiations with the NWT Metis Nation, they're part of the group as well. As far as other partners, of course there's residents, there's public forums, there's the Chamber of Mines, et cetera. That's through the engagement process so, again, of course part of the process going forward, to re-engage with those partners as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, to be clear, is it the territorial government that in fact is the lead on the establishment of the Thaidene Nene Park?
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Campbell
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the territorial government is the lead for negotiation of Thaidene Nene. Again, that's outside the national park footprint and, of course, understandably they would be the lead for that. So anything outside the proposed national park area would be the Government of Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So can the department maybe recommend that if there was public input to be considered, like a recommendation from the public in terms of an actual change to be considered with the actual design -- I don't know if design's the right term -- of the part that affects, you know, the federal component of the park, you know, are we hearing now that there would be two different entities that individuals, Northerners in fact, would have to talk to? Is there a parks party or parks leads that we would have to talk to and then possibly even the territorial government because they are a partner in this?
I wonder if there's some clarification there, that if a good suggestion or one to be considered is coming forward from the public on a change to the Parks Canada portion of the park, to whom would they actually be directed to go and make that suggestion to? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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Campbell
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The residents or the concerned parties for the Parks Canada portion absolutely would be directed to go to Parks Canada. Parks Canada is undertaking their own consultation and engagement process. To date, on just where we're at, there is some refinement that needs to be completed on boundaries. Again, we have to have some further discussion. That refinement is to be a minor area. All of that is actually in the National Park area. So most discussions would be for that area. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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The Chair Frederick Blake Jr.
Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Mr. Vanthuyne, your time has expired, if you have further questions, you can go after the next person. That brings us to page 79, Environment and Natural Resources, departmental total, $90,315,000. It's Mr. O'Reilly next, thank you.
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Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I didn't want to dump on my colleague, but I did hear a couple remarks here that just started to set off some alarm bells for me. I think I heard the deputy minister say that they're going to reopen negotiations. So I'm hoping that we're not looking at the whole arrangement unraveling at this point though the territorial government wanting to make a bunch of significant changes. I know that some of the other parties to these negotiations have had significant amounts of time invested and energy, and commitments from third parties that are time-dependent. So I just get worried when I hear the words “reopen negotiations.”
So perhaps we can just get a little bit of clarity here about what is actually taking place. Like, if we're reopening negotiations on the whole package, I'm more than a little concerned. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
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Wally Schumann Hay River South
Thank you, Mr. Chair. A couple things I guess. We're not reopening negotiations. All what happened was this process was put on pause during the 17thAssembly for the election. What we're doing is going back through the process and bringing this back to open the box back up and essentially to get things going again. It's not like we're re-negotiating. What we negotiated already we're just -- the process was put on pause, and now we're re-engaging with the stakeholders. One thing I'd like to suggest maybe is we can offer a briefing to committee on this whole process and then everyone can ask as many questions as they want. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
No. I do want to thank the Minister for that reassurance. If it's just re-commencing where we left off, I'm more comfortable with it. I think that invitation from Committee is probably on its way, may be on its way already, so I'll look forward to getting that briefing. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
One other question about this in general though, if I may. As part of this package on the Conservation Network Action Plan, I think that's what -- I don't know if I got the title right -- as part of that package, I guess we're looking at having an overall strategy for conservation areas throughout the Northwest Territories, and presumably part of that is going to be legislation and looking at our toolbox. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
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Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thanks. A nice short answer, I'll try to keep my questions shorter too. Thanks, Mr. Chair.