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.