Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today, I would like to share some remarks regarding the large oil sands mining project known as Teck Frontier, which, as of two days ago, has officially been withdrawn by Teck Resources Limited.

The news of this decision, in my view, is positive. The adverse environmental impacts that this project would have brought to our territory would have been felt for generations. We here in the NWT have always been feeling the impacts of the oil sands development for many years already. We have seen the impacts it had on our waterways, our interconnected lakes and rivers that flow from the Athabasca River in Fort McMurray, all the way north through the Slave River and into the Great Slave Lake. The water quality along these waterways has diminished. In some cases, the volume of water flowing through has decreased.

Along with these effects on water, there is also a major concern for the impacts to wildlife such as fish, moose, caribou, and others. These two areas of concern would have also exponentially impacted many nearby First Nations and other Indigenous groups to hunt and trap on their own land.

I believe that the withdrawal of the Teck Frontier Mine is a reawakening of corporate, social, and environmental responsibility for this country. Big business, especially multinational corporations, need to work with Indigenous governments all across Canada before any major projects are moved forward, to ensure that there are benefits for all parties that are impacted.

Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, I believe that the Alberta-NWT Transboundary Water Agreement should have played a larger and more active role in Teck Frontier Mine consultations. One of the core tenets of that agreement states clearly, among other main objectives, that both parties must work "to maintain the ecological integrity of transboundary water ecosystems." If Teck Mine had gone through with development, I seriously doubt that the ecological integrity of our lands and waters would have been upheld, which begs the question: if our government's participation in such agreements does not bear any fruit for our territory's interest, then why be a part of it?

I also have a problem with the lack of participation by Indigenous governments in enacting this water agreement. Why did they only receive "observer statuses" with this agreement as opposed to being fully active participants to this agreement? I see many problems with that approach, and I hope we can be more inclusive with our Indigenous partners when it comes to major decisions like this. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I will have questions for the Minister responsible shortly.