Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now for the million dollar -- 10 million or $20 million question. Mr. Speaker, the harbour is critical to Hay River and has been critical to Hay River for a number of years. Will the Minister confirm if her department, absent any federal financial assistance, has identified internal funding to dredge the Hay River harbour? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The responsibility for dredging Hay River harbour lies within the federal government. However, given the importance of the Hay River harbour, and the urgency to restore it, we are willing to lead the work if ongoing federal funding is provided. We also continue to address this matter with its urgency with our federal partners and we look forward to looking for a solution, because I know this is very important to the community. Not only that, it's very important for some of the communities up the valley. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Alberta has committed to sharing draft reports to fulfill the technical information gaps with the GNWT as part of the information share on our bilateral water management agreement, and I can tell the House here while I was in Whitehorse, I had the opportunity to had meet with the Minister and the deputy Minister, and they did reconfirm that they would get that information to us. Presently we have not received any of the technical reports to date and anticipate receiving the first report by late October. Once we do that, we can work with the committee to get that information to them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I guess I'd hoped that the consultants would have been put to work by now but maybe we have to wait for those reports.

You know, we're downstream of this mess. There's a lot at stake for us in terms of water quality, aquatic life, and human health. Can the Minister tell us what the timetable is for developing regulations to allow the discharge of tailings wastewater into the Athabasca River system upstream of the Northwest Territories? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, both the Alberta government and the federal government are considering the development of regulations for the safe discharge of treated oil sand water tailings -- or tailings water to the Athabasca River. The Alberta government is conducting scientific studies which could be used to support the development regulations that would outline requirements for the release of treated oil sand mine effluent to surface waters. Regulatory guidance could be developed by as early as 2023.

The federal government is also working to develop regulations under the Fisheries Act for oil sands mining effluents which will include quality standards and reporting requirements. Final regulations will be developed as of 2025.

So those two, the province of Alberta and the federal government, are working on those things right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. We got two freight trains coming towards us so I'll look forward to some kind of updates. And earlier today I thanked the Minister for the confidential update he provided to Regular MLAs; that's helpful, but there's nothing really in terms of clear public information on what's going on. There's also a lack of a principled position from our government on these proposed discharges.

Can the Minister tell us whether there is a plan to provide regular updates to NWT residents about potential discharges from the Alberta tar sands and regulations to allow this to happen? So some public information. Is there a schedule, a plan to do that, Mr. Speaker? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said previously in this House, GNWT, I repeat, the GNWT is not supportive of a plan to release treated tailing waters from the oil sands to the Athabasca River unless we have information, data, and science that demonstrate that we can be -- this can be done safely and that it's not affecting ecological integrity of the shared water.

Mr. Speaker, through the Alberta/NWT Bilateral Water Management Agreement, ENR has regular communications with the Alberta government about the work that is underway on regulation development. Senior Alberta and GNWT officials are meeting regularly. Regular meeting updates with the Alberta office of the chief scientists are occurring as part of the bilateral management committee. The Alberta government -- the Alberta office of the chief scientist is lead on the Alberta science -- or sorry, is the lead of the oil sand mine water science team which has developed work plans and is reviewing technical reports to fulfill technical information gaps that could support regulation development. ENR regularly shares updates with the water strategic Indigenous steering committee. The department shall share on an update with Indigenous governments, council secretariat in August of 2022. ENR's shared an update with the standing committee on September 19th, 2022.

As information received, the GNWT will consider a thorough assessment of the technical reports prepared by Alberta to address the knowledge gaps as well as proposed regulations to ensure that the interests of NWT residents are well represented. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that, all that information about the process. But, can he just look at establishing a web page on that ENR website where this kind of information could be provided to the public?

So the discharge of tar sands tailings, or at least treated wastewater, is inevitable; it's going to happen either through treatment or there's going to be an accident. All of this will likely lead to significant public concern on the part of NWT residents regarding any potential discharges.

So can the Minister tell us whether his department has considered whether tar sands discharges might have a significant adverse impact on the environment or might be a cause of public concern and thus trigger an environmental assessment under the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the GNWT will complete a thorough assessment of the technical reports prepared to address the knowledge gap as well as propose regulations to ensure that the interests of the NWT residents are well represented. Our Bilateral Water Management Agreement with Alberta includes information sharing, provisions, and water monitoring commitments, triggers and objectives that will provide an early warning system of change. The oil sands development and associated regulations and approval are assessed through Alberta and sometimes Canada's regulatory systems. The GNWT will and does participate in these regulatory process, including environmental assessment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Housing has been directed to provide effective housing supports for the people most in need. And Mr. Speaker, the GNWT has been talking about the Homelessness Strategic Action Plan since 2018. Homelessness is so important in our territory that I think it's one of the few things that all 19 of us actually agree on is something that we need to be focused on.

So can the Minister provide the status of the development of the Homelessness Strategic Action Plan? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for this question. This strategic plan has been in the works for quite some time now.

What the department has discovered is that it needs an all-of-government approach. It's not only a housing crisis. We are actually working with the Department of Health and Education and Justice, as well too, to formally look at what the strategy is going to look like and also where is the funding going to come from. Is this going to be a standalone department? Those decisions are being spoken about at the deputy minister's level. And I can provide Standing Committee with a further update if that's required, or requested. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm glad to hear that it is a cross-departmental approach; however, that just feels as another way to, you know, avoid actually providing us with any of the deliverables because other times when we're looking for things it's often well, that's not my responsibility, that's the "X" Minister's responsibility. So I kind of feel at times we get both answers when it's convenient for Cabinet.

Can the Minister explain how long the department has been working on this plan and who they have engaged? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And yes, this plan is very complex as well and looking at the stakeholders we did involve throughout the Northwest Territories, there is a quite large list of people who have been involved in the process as well. I don't have that information in front of me. I can provide that to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I get tired at times about hearing that things are coming soon or, you know, that the majority of people like things. In the engineering world, these are not numbers or amounts that are quantifiable.

So can the Minister provide a date for when the Homelessness Strategic Action Plan will be finalized and what funding will be made available to implement the homelessness solutions, such as the tiny house initiatives that my colleague from Thebacha is always very keen on. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that the Assembly is eager to hear a date on when this strategy would be available. We are also looking at the process that we do have to follow within this Legislative Assembly. The expected date I'm looking at is April 1st of 2023 to just present this homelessness strategy with what we were able to provide up to this date, what we're able to collaborate with, with the Northwest Territories and with my colleagues as well too.

The other part to this strategy is it does not come with any funding. I don't know where the funding is going to come from. That is a totally different conversation to be having. But the priority is to get the strategy out by the end of this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A lot to unpack in that one. First of all, I don't even know what I tell people that don't have a home as of October 2022 that they can wait until April 1st to find out what's happening for them. So I just find that to be crazy, in my opinion, considering this was the very first thing that we talked about needed to be done, was housing. And when we hear other Ministers constantly saying well, we can't hire people because there's no housing, I sit here and go how is the homelessness strategy not coming out until the last year of our Assembly. It's mind blowing.

So can the Minister describe what homelessness prevention strategies and actions are being implemented now? What's going to happen to Inuvik when there's no operator there for the shelter this winter? Thank you.