Yeah, the Member answered her own question. Yes, you're correct. Thank you.
Debates of March 8th, 2022
This is page numbers 3837 - 3896 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 indigenous.
Topics
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3861
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3861
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3861
Katrina Nokleby Great Slave
Thank you, yeah, that's what I figured. Is there any way that we -- I'm assuming that this potentially is something that's borne out of agreement with Indigenous organizations or under the, and therefore, really, there isn't a way to sort of take that -- or negotiate with the federal government to move that money elsewhere and if it is that, I don't mean to be disrespectful in saying that we shouldn't be funding them. Thank you.
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3861
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3861
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3861
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3861
Katrina Nokleby Great Slave
Thank you, Madam Chair. Perhaps, again, I hate to say this because I will be lynched by my colleagues, but at some point in the future I would like to maybe have a bit more understanding of that surface rights board. I would ask for a briefing but I'm a bit scared to at this point. So I'll just leave it at that, Madam Chair. Thank you.
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3861
The Chair Lesa Semmler
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Are there any further questions under the corporate management?
Seeing none, Lands, corporate management, operations expenditure summary, 2022-2023 Main estimates, $3,637,000. Does committee agree?
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
The Chair Lesa Semmler
Thank you, committee. We are going to take a break, and once we come back, we'll start under the operations department.
---SHORT RECESS
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
The Chair Lesa Semmler
I'll now call Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, we are now on Lands, operations, on page 319. And if there's questions from Members on this section? Members, no questions? Member for Frame Lake.
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thanks, Madam Chair. So I believe this is the section where inspections are categorized, if I read this right, and I see that the travel line is about where it was last year in terms of the revised estimates. But given COVID restrictions and so on, I'm just wondering how we're doing with inspections and enforcement, particularly at the diamond mines. If the Minister has any information or stats that he could share, I'd appreciate it. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
Shane Thompson Nahendeh
I'll start, and then turn to the ADM. Yeah, we've been doing our inspections. We're following what we're trying to do. The biggest challenge is that we're not able to get on the charters now. We have to find our own charters in there because of the COVID situation. But for the detail, I will turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
Chapman
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we have been continuing with our inspections. With COVID, there have been some impacts, as the Minister has pointed out. We continued to set our threshold at 95 percent of our high-risk inspections of which our diamond mines would fit within that category. And we have been undertaking our inspection frequency at every second month where we have people on the ground in each of the mines themselves for inspections. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Yeah, no, thanks for that. And I guess the reason why I mention that is I think over the last year, Ekati, you know, was in care and maintenance or -- for a while, and then they restarted, which creates some -- you know, maybe you need to get up there and have a look around as well. And I know that they are doing -- starting to close some parts of their occupation. Diavik is probably going to be starting to wind down in the near future as well. So there's quite a bit to watch at the mine sites. So I appreciate that.
I just wanted to ask as well about how the land and water inspections are coordinated. Is it the same inspector that does them, or are they cross-appointed, or how does Lands work with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to get the inspection --
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
The Chair Lesa Semmler
Sorry, Mr. O'Reilly. Can we just, whoops, pause. We're just having trouble with the broadcasting. Sorry, you got to -- just wait for -- [Audio Unavailable]
---SHORT RECESS
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
The Chair Lesa Semmler
All right. No, we're good now. It's being streamed. So we're good. We just had to make sure.
And I'll go back to start over with Member for Frame Lake.
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I'm not sure where that train got stopped. So I'm not going to start over but I'll try to keep it shorter.
Can the Minister and the staff tell me a little bit more about how lands and waters inspections are coordinated? Lands, of course, looks after land use permits and leases and the ENR folks, as I had understood, do the water inspections under basically related to water licences. So maybe someone can just explain to me a little bit better about how these two functions are coordinated. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
Shane Thompson Nahendeh
So to be real quick, I'll just turn to the ADM for detail on that one. Thank you.
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
Committee Motion 198-19(2): Tabled Document 561-19(2): Main Estimates 2022-2023 - Legislative Assembly- Deferral of Department, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 3862
Chapman
Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Member has suggested, there is coordination between ourselves and ENR whenever water licence inspections are needed to be done in locations with land use permit inspections as well. For example, we do have existing permits and licences in locations like Norzinc where we would typically charter and share a charter down to the location so that they could conduct the inspections at that time. But we're also cross-appointed in some situations where we need to go into remote locations and somebody may not be available and we would be able to conduct the appropriate inspection at that time as well to ensure that we're using the -- I guess, the limited financial dollars to the best abilities. Thank you.