Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I know, indeed, we do need expert, but what just happened in Northwest Territories, how can an expert let 4 million hectares of land burn? In the past, a lot of people have said, even the veteran firefighters have said the same thing, and elders have said, in the past government used to pick up all kinds of people on the street to fight fires, and it was those people, because of them, our community is still here. A lot of them, it happened all over. And that was the only jobs that a lot of our Indigenous people had at that time. It's not like before. We know that. But I wouldn't call these expert all the time because expert let 4 million hectares of land burn. And that's where I think here what I would like to see happen here is that strengthening communications. There was a lot of poor communications. There was a lot of things that we could have done to prepare for our communities, for our community members, especially the community members because we have a lot of elders. We have a lot of vulnerable people. We have a lot of children in the communities. You know, like, the firebreaks. And use the veteran firefighters, the elders, the traditional knowledge. We could have avoided many of these situations that we saw over the summer.

And what I would like to see is that, okay, communication needs to be strengthened but more involvement with the Indigenous government. ECC, or the department, needs to work with the ECC -- with the Indigenous government and community government and other organizations, especially when they know it is going to be hot, dry summer. Like, we should prepare for the worst. That's what they should have done. But the people in Yellowknife office, some of our people working here did not know what was happening. Only after that disaster strike, then that's when they were informed. And there was a lot of poor communications. So what I would like to see is the communications strengthened and use more of the veteran firefighters and elders. Because when I was talking to some of the firefighters, the veterans, some of them said we did not go home for two months sometimes. We were out there going from one regions to another fighting fires to save our communities. And we don't see that happening now. What we see is that, okay, they messed with Mother Nature. They don't want to go there and put out the fire. And especially now. We know the water level is low. But if it's going to be a dry season, do something about it, get to it right away before it gets out of control. And that's what destroyed the Highway No. 3.

We lost 15 cabins and four infrastructure in my communities. Our big land is destroyed. A lot of -- our Tlicho land is destroyed where a lot of people do hunting and trapping. It's just that we know we're not going to get it back because it's going to take seven years. And who knows, maybe longer with the climate change. Climate change is here. We might not get our land back or that replenish itself within seven years. It might take longer. So I think communications and meeting with the people, meeting with the Indigenous government, community government, keeping them informed should be strengthened in this and do more. We need an annual report. We need something so that we avoid this next year or within the next, you know, fire seasons. But something needs to be done right away about this. Thank you.

Thank you. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Member for Deh Cho.

Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that representatives from technical working groups should meet with standing committee earlier in the process, closer to the beginning of the co-drafting process, to discuss opportunities to share information on policy options and policy intentions for resource management legislation. Mahsi.

Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Frame Lake.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, in my opening remarks, I mentioned how I think it would have been helpful for committee if we had been able to receive more information about what kind of policy options and decisions had been made around different options before, if that could have been shared with committee before we just got the bill, and that the department didn't really share any of that information with us. So we got the bill, and we had a whole bunch of questions and issues around it that I think probably we could have avoided, or at least had a more productive review of it had more information been shared upfront with us. So I think that's the purpose of this, is to not interfere with the drafting and work that has to be done but find ways to share some of that information during the process so committees can at least start in a better place when they get a bill like this and make more productive use of their time. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Member for Deh Cho.

Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that if the overall legislative timeframe allows, there should be the ability to extend standing committee reviews of resource management bills to allow for completion of the collaborative review process. Mahsi.

Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Frame Lake.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I'd mentioned, and other committee members have mentioned, that we kind of ran out of time at the end. We had met a couple of times with the departmental staff representatives of the technical working group and in the second meeting, we had a good discussion around some amendments that committee had proposed, and those were kind of taken away and some further work was done by the departmental staff, by the technical working group members, and then those were provided to committee. And committee had been at least under the impression that there was still time for us to respond to that and try to have maybe one more go at it in terms of reaching consensus on a few items. And we did provide that notice to the Minister, and, unfortunately, the Minister said I don't have any more time to look at this to get it through Cabinet, or whatever the Minister has to do, and we just ran out of time. So hopefully these things don't always happen at the end of the life of an Assembly. They don't get scrunched in. I guess -- and we also undertook, at the beginning of this, to really look at lessons learned because this is the first time we went through this process. It was a good process. And the thing that I -- one of the things I learned from this as well, that collaborative review worked very well, and if we had a bit more time I think we could have probably reached consensus on a few more items. But we just ran out of time because of the end of the life of this Assembly and the need to get this bill back in for this sitting. So that's the intention of this, is to try to encourage a collaborative review of bills like this and, if there's enough time, to extend that if necessary. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Member for Deh Cho.

Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that exchanges between standing committees, the departments, and technical working groups on the review of resource management bills should be made public, where possible, and documented in committee reports and resource management bills. Mahsi.

Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, I'm just waiting for the light to go on. Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I guess what -- the process convention does set out some timelines and, you know, steps for committee to work with departmental staff, with the technical working group. And those are good things. But it's really silent on how public any of that can or should be. And we did exchange a number of written communications with -- as committee with the Minister. And I think it would be helpful for people, for the public, to know how that process went back and forth and what the outcomes were in some cases. And I think as much as we've tried to do some of that in the report itself, I think we should make more of an effort to be a little bit more transparent and try to find ways to make more of that information public. And that's what this recommendation is aimed at, is that another lesson that we've learned in going through this is that we try to find ways to make that exchange of information, of views, and the work that happens during the collaborative, we make it public. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Member for Deh Cho.

Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that departments undertake in the co-drafting of resource management legislation and regulations, should secure additional resources for this process, and conduct more robust public engagement. Mahsi.

Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Frame Lake.