Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.
Debates of March 10th, 2022
This is page numbers 3947 - 4016 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was know.
Topics
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3962
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3962
Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I guess this is just also not my understanding. So Tlicho, for example, got quite a lot of subsurface. If I walk into the office and say hey, I want to stake a claim there, I think the office probably goes, no, you can't do that. Are they then -- is there some sort of process where that's possible? Do they say, this is how that would go, go talk to Tlicho or something? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3962
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3962
Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South
Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. In -- yes, no, and that's correct that it's -- it's not our -- it's not ours to control but as far as the specific process, I'd suggest I think the deputy minister might be able to speak to that more specifically. Thank you.
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 10th, 2022
Page 3962
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Strand
Yes, thanks, Madam Chair. Obviously we know there's interest in some of the land that is, you know, under -- under the land claim agreements for various groups. You know, I just mentioned the Tlicho. That's an area of high interest for critical minerals. We did provide some funding to the Tlicho government to start working on what they might view as their own minerals act, and, you know, certainly we have that in mind when we're developing our online map staking system, if that's something that can be applicable and used by the Indigenous governments if and when they want to open their land.
So certainly, if there is that interest, you know, we do have the Indigenous -- the Indigenous amount that's coming into our 2022-2023 Main Estimates that will be -- you know, if that is of interest to the Indigenous governments to follow up, certainly we will have that funding in place this coming fiscal. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I'm happy to hear that. I think when we do get online map staking, if we could work away and to explain to people the very complex nature of who owns the subsurface everywhere. And I guess I want to ask the similar question for withdrawing. You know, when I look at the map of the Slave Geological, about half of it is withdrawn, not open to exploration or mining. Although we do pull land out of there every once in a while, I know usually after consultation by the Department of Lands and quite often it's just consent from the applicable Indigenous government, I'm just wondering if there is a process or work underway where kind of a -- you know, if you want to do exploration in withdrawn lands, you could go get permission from the applicable Indigenous government, or whether that's even at all considered possible or in the ITI's hands? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, that really is in the hands of the Indigenous governments. But I want to -- I realize we're in a public forum, and I want to just say I've -- the opportunities I've had to speak to some of the proponents here in the Northwest Territories, there are examples where, in fact, exploration companies have gone, done that early engagement, done the community relationship building, and have had the opportunity to have, exactly as the Member's said, consent from those groups where they are working together in partnership where they're signing agreements with them, and it's really the way of doing business, I think, of the future, and really, we have -- we are starting to see those examples here. So if they need supports in terms of client service community relationship building, we do have CSCR staff in ITI who can do that support and make sure that the right connections are made so that those -- those early engagements happen and then those good news stories come out of it. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
The Chair Lesa Semmler
Thank you. Are there any further questions under Industry, Tourism and Investment, minerals and petroleum resources? Member for Frame Lake.
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I was glad to hear the deputy minister say that the NWT petroleum resources strategy was being sunseted. I just don't think there's any interest, really, in big oil and gas anymore. But when are we going to do some sort of rationalization of staffing and resources devoted to oil and gas as was done for OROGO? So when is that exercise going to be done by ITI? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there's not a formal staffing review right now in the books. I'd turn it to the deputy minister who can speak a bit to the work of the staff in this sector and to what extent they may need to have some review done. Thank you.
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Strand
Thank you, Madam Chair. So, yes, so our Inuvik office has six employees budgeted within it. The work under the petroleum resources strategy is important. You know, we're looking at the export LNG opportunity. We're also supporting IRC with the MA team. So that is important work that, you know, obviously given what's going on globally right now, local sources of fuel is super important. So I view the work of that office as very critical at this point in time. We also do know that the offshore moratorium and negotiations are underway and that would also have to be administered out of our Inuvik office. So, you know, waiting for the outcome of that obviously is important. But, you know, we do assess workload. It's performance reviews every year, what is on the books. Those staff do help us on the mineral side as well. They help implement the regional mineral development strategies that we have in the IRC and the Gwich'in. So they do keep busy on not just petroleum activities, but certainly we will be looking at that in the future. And I have reached out to inquire about how and why the OROGO example happened. So I will be diving deeper into that, but not at this point. But we will -- we'll be assessing it as we go forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I'm just -- lest anybody get any ideas, I'm happy to have those folks stay in Inuvik and maybe they can transition into tourism development and promotion. But I guess I want to go over to the -- sorry, on 217, Mineral and Petroleum Resources Act implementation, the Minister spoke of all of the work that's going on with development of regulations. Why are we actually seeing that small decrease in that line item between last year and then the mains this year? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, let me turn that to the deputy minister, please.
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Strand
Yeah, we're seeing a decrease because in that year we had vacant positions due to COVID and the staffing generally because of the nature -- technical nature of the positions that we were hiring. So that decrease was because of the unspent funds in that 2021 fiscal year. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Okay, thanks. I'll try again here. So there's -- maybe it's I better -- I'm not even going to try to do addition or subtraction here on the floor, Madam Chair. But there's 545 in 2022-2023 yet the current year, it's anticipated we're going to spend 587. Why is that amount going down? Thanks, Madam Chair -- for next year. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3963