Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, the mineral incentive policy, I would suggest, should at some point go to the deputy minister just to speak to the specific amounts that we've been able to leverage over the course of many years for this where it's -- it is an incentive program whereby exploration companies can apply, and now advanced exploration companies as well can apply, in order to help encourage them to bring and spend their exploration dollars here in the North. There's a lot of competition in the world right now for exploration dollars, and we want to make sure that we are able to provide incentives so that those dollars get spent here. If there's more exploration, then there's more likely to be more opportunity for the development of an advanced project and then an actual mine to be developed in the -- in due course. You can't -- you can't develop mines without doing the exploration to start, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I see that in last year that CanNor increased the funding of the mining incentive program and put some extra dollars into it. Are we expecting that same type of influx of funding from CanNor in 2022? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So the influx from last year was -- it certainly was -- came in last year, and I can't speak to any guarantee that I have from the federal government with respect to getting more necessarily. But the relationship with CanNor is, I'd say, a very strong one and a good one, and they have been focused not only with us but on both territories about the place of the mineral resource industry and so as such I am hopeful that we will continue to see some support from them. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, looking back at the years for the mineral incentive program, I see it started in 2014 which would put it in its eighth year and that the funding originally started at about $400,000, and has tripled. But my question is given that over the course of the last eight years, I believe the influx of funding from ITI has been approximately a combined $3 million and that that $3 million apparently, according to what I believe -- the source, sorry, escapes me right now, but has equated to about $15 million in spending from funded projects in northern communities. And so I'm wondering if there has been discussion over increasing the mineral incentive program even more than where it's at right now given the return on that investment in the North? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Madam Chair, that's a big one. So this is certainly one of the areas where to -- in order to achieve the goal of increasing the mineral resource sector, and really at this point helping it to recover and achieve some growth, yeah, there's -- it's at -- right now been a little by little approach to -- in order to increase it. And I can say that other -- the other territories are also -- particularly Yukon is also focused on seeing increases here. This isn't the only thing that we need to do to increase the mineral resource sector, but, you know, yes, as far as this being an opportunity to leverage significant funds, I think the Member's number sounds about right although my -- my scan doesn't go quite as long, is that, yeah, the plan is to try to continue to increase this incrementally. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Minister alluded to the need to put an influx of effort behind mining to help this sector rebound with COVID. And I know that this is a consistent issue that's happening globally and that mining really hit -- took a hit in 2020 around the world. But we're seeing different levels of success in our sister territories on either side of us that are greater than our success here in the territory. So I'm wondering if there are conversations happening with stakeholders, or the major players in the mining industry, to find out what the interest is in our sister territories versus here in our territory and how the GNWT can kind of further leverage any -- any policy changes or increase interest in mining in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, one -- there's one critical difference is of course that there's different commodities that are at the front end of our mining sector right now. So diamonds took a particular hit over the last year, although has also now rebounded and is doing significantly better. You know, we are at different stages in our sort of mining lifecycle, if I may, you know in terms of the exploration and then the level of advanced projects and where they're at in their mining cycle. We certainly are talking to both territories and are also talking with the federal government. And, you know, the things that we hear -- and talking to industry. And the things you hear aren't new. They are long-known that the cost of operating in the North are high, and also that the regulatory landscape in the North is one that is -- can be seen as a bit complex. That said, it feeds back that -- that feeds back into the fact that we have high environmental, social, and governance factors, which means this is a place whereas corporate social responsibility becomes something with a significant value in the industry. You know, the fact that once you've gone through the processes of being regulated and approved here, you have a project that is one that will have a high ESG or economic social governance factor associated with it. So all of which then is to say -- you know, and we're doing some work in that area to try to be more standard about it and also to be -- to be more public about that. And, yeah, I mean -- I feel I can go on quite at some length, Madam Chair, but I just simply do want to reassure that there's a lot of work there in this area happening both in terms of talking internally and with the other governments and with the sector about what we can do to advance this area, this industry. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I appreciate that. And I think that's a really important message from the Minister, and I appreciate her acknowledging the effort to speak more publicly about that. I think that our social responsibility as far as mining is a very important one and definitely an area that -- that is an honour to be a leader in and hopefully more work can be done as the NWT continues to grow a responsible mining sector.

I'm -- just in terms of the importance still of mining to our economy in the Northwest Territories, I do see that there -- between our 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 Main Estimates for mineral and petroleum resources, there is a slight decline between the main estimates, and I'm wondering if the Minister can just speak to where that decline comes from. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I'd suggest that go to the deputy minister, please.

Thank you. Deputy minister Strand.

Okay, thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just wondering if, either through the work of the Mineral Resources Act or presently in the mining recorders office -- I'll note quite a bit of our territory, the subsurface belongs to Indigenous governments. Is it possible to do any exploration on that land? Have we -- have we reached any agreements with any of those governments on how that process would work for their land? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there's quite a variety of different situations depending on whether we're talking about withdrawing land, settled land, unsettled land. So certainly the Indigenous governments that are already land rights that have their lands settled, so for example, IRC, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, we are working with them very much directly in terms of the LNG projects in that region, so. And similarly working with others around -- for example, Tlicho government and, you know, with respect to getting regional mineral development strategies to support them in that work. So, yeah, I think I'll stop with that, Madam Chair, to see what other questions might come. Thanks.