The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly.

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Committee was made aware of how Quebec and Ontario, two major jurisdictions in Canada, carried out major reviews of their mining rights legislation. Ontario, the roll-out of that actually took about a decade to achieve. I know that we did have some discussions with the Minister and his staff around this. This is not going to happen quickly. There's a whole variety of regulations that need to be developed and some very serious policy discussions that need to take place with Indigenous governments, and hopefully the public and the industry.

The intent of this is to try to make sure that there is an implementation plan so that we can clearly communicate how long this is going to take, and establish some milestones, some indicators of progress and some accountability as this rolls out. That's the purpose of this motion, Mr. Chair, and I look forward to the Minister responding.

The Chair R.J. Simpson

To the motion.

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Vanthuyne.

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through this process, I think that we recognize that there, of course, is one of the most important aspects of mining and exploration is drill core, and that it can be a little bit challenging and costly at times to store and/or move drill core, but that its preservation is very important due to what it can provide for history and for future exploration opportunities.

We felt that there was certainly a need to be able to address those challenges that we have as it relates to making sure that we are safeguarding drill core, and making sure that it's going to have some opportunity in the future to be accessible to those who might have some interests in exploration or prospecting in the Northwest Territories, or even for mines. That's the basis of it, but I think others might want to talk around this as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you. To the motion. Mr. O'Reilly.

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Anybody who has hiked around Yellowknife knows that you can stumble across drill cores out in the bush that have been left there. As my colleague from Yellowknife North mentioned, we want to ensure that the money they expensed, the effort that has gone into drilling and retrieving core and storing it, that geological knowledge is protected. In some cases, drill core, when it's left out in the open can present a safety issue, a public safety issue, when cores start to fall over and so on. Some of the core may have the potential to generate acid, leach metals, so that there can be some environmental issues around some of the cores that might be brought above ground. I'm happy to say that we did work with the Minister and the department to make a couple of changes to the bill so that abandonment is now subject to regulations at the Minister's discretion.

What we did discover is that drill core is not actually dealt with in any way through something like the Mackenzie Valley Land Use Regulations, Territorial Land Use Regulations. The thresholds and items covered in those regulations don't really cover drill core. This is a policy recommendation around making sure that we close up that regulatory gap in the other regulations that deal more generally with reclamation and restoration of lands so that we capture the geological knowledge to make sure that there is no safety or environmental issues in the future. I support this. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you. To the motion.

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Vanthuyne.

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends, to the extent it is possible before the dissolution of the 18^th Assembly and for the public record, that the government provide a response to these recommendations, even of a preliminary nature, that committee may publicly disclose. Thank you, Mr. Chair.