Thank you, Madam Chair. The total for the year is $1.2 million. This is our contribution. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member.

Masi, Madam Chair. Just to finish off, distribution. Obviously, each Member always has a keen interest in the funding going to our region, and more specifically I'm speaking about Gameti. My four communities, what was their contribution? If the Minister doesn't have that at their fingertips, then if they could provide that, it would be greatly appreciated. Masi.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. In Gameti, we spent $18,536. In Whati, we spent $6,500. In Wekweeti, we spent $4,000. Now, you're going to make me know all of your communities. Sorry, I don't have them on here, so maybe I'll just ask Ms. St-Denis to confirm for the remainder of the Member's region. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Ms. St-Denis.

Thank you, Ms. St-Denis. Member for Monfwi. No? Are there any further questions under the economic diversification and business support? Seeing none, please turn to page 202. Industry, Tourism and Investment, economic diversification and business support, operations expenditure summary, 2020-2021 Main Estimates, $17,966,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. We are going to move on to ITI, minerals and petroleum resources on page 206, with information pages up to 209. Questions? Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Minister had previously made statements that she is working with industry as a number of exploration companies don't qualify for federal wage subsidies as they don't have revenue. They typically don't lose revenue or make revenue, exploration companies. This puts a lot of our smaller exploration companies in a difficult position of not being eligible for federal programming. Can the Minister update any advocacy work that is done with the federal government or whether there is any intention to fill that gap from the department? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. I have just been advised. Sergeant-at-Arms, we are going to change some of the witnesses. Minister, which witnesses?

[Microphone turned off] ...will leave, and we will bring in our director of finance and administration. My apologies. I tried to catch you. No. It's all good.

[Microphone turned off] ...time yet, Mr. Johnson, in case you have to repeat your question. Minister, if I could just have you introduce your witness for the record? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to introduce Ms. Nina Salvador, our director of finance and administration. Thank you.

Thank you. Welcome, Ms. Salvador. I am going to give the question back to the Member for Yellowknife North to re-ask, just in case we need to. Thanks.

Thank you, Madam Chair. A number of exploration companies are not eligible for federal wage subsidy programs given that they don't really have revenue or have the qualified drop in revenue. Can the Minister update me on any advocacy work to address this gap with the federal government or any intentions for the department to address this gap? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Since this has all started, I have been meeting very regularly with our mineral resource extraction sector, including the Nunavut and NWT Chamber of Mines as well as Indigenous development corporations who rely heavily on the resource sector, as well. We all work together to come out with a united voice so that I am more informed when I am at my federal tables as to their asks and their gaps and the lack of ability to access some of the federal programs. At every single one of my federal tables, I raise these issues. I have had one-on-one bilateral meetings with Ministers of NRCan and with infrastructure Ministers, as well, because there is some element of infrastructure to do with the mining sector. Also, we have advocated long and hard for the airline industry and the airline supports as they are also critical to the mining and exploration companies.

We are currently in the process of finalizing a pan-territorial letter between the three territories, myself and my counterparts in the mining Ministers for the Yukon and Nunavut, asking the federal government to look at these gaps and the wage subsidies benefits that have been provided. We have just been tirelessly advocating. We have sent letters. We have recommended or endorsed letters from our chambers of commerce on this subject. As I mentioned, we have a weekly meeting, bi-weekly meetings. We are meeting with the mines. I would say this has been a major focus of ITI, advocating and identifying the gaps. Unfortunately, the federal government has not moved fast enough, I would say on listening to us telling them what the gaps are, but we have been vocal. The Premier has been vocal, as well, with the federal government, with the Prime Minister about these gaps and the importance of the resource sector to our economy. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I hope there is a solution to this issue soon. Another issue, as the Minister is well aware, Dominion Diamond is in creditor protection, under that list of creditors is a long list of northern businesses, many small businesses that got hit with an economic recession, had cash-flow problems, and now are looking at potentially not having their debts covered. I know there is a new recent agreement for Washington companies to purchase Dominion's assets. Can the Minister update committee on any advocacy work that the department has been doing and any sense of whether those northern creditors are going to get their money in this new deal? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. I will allow this question, but please make sure that comments stay general. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We do have external counsel as the Government of the Northwest Territories, who is in the court advocating or taking part in the proceedings on behalf of the GNWT and our own interests in this situation. We also have been advocating with the court for northern businesses to be paid first out of the list of creditors. However, that is not a legal requirement, is my understanding. I am not going to profess to be a CCAA expert, but I think our role in that is just in advocacy. We don't actually have a legal right to ask for that is my understanding. We have been working very hard with my counterpart in the Department of Finance and Justice to keep an eye on this. The department itself has been modelling different scenarios as what it will mean to our economy with the different potential outcomes this.

We have been talking lots with the other two operating mines, as well, to ensure that they are going to not be able to be served by northern contractors who may be fiscally impacted by the CCAA filing. We do recognize that several of our construction companies, et cetera, our business development corporations are creditors on this list. We have asked that the two operating mines identify any contractors they felt were struggling or potentially were going to have concerns themselves about cash flow and liquidity, to identify those to my department soon so that we can reach out to help them with the other supports that we have available, the business supports within the GNWT itself. We are just very carefully monitoring this situation. Wherever we can offer supports to step in and help those businesses that have been affected, we are. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member.