Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to clarify the protocol for notification of spills. What is the process for notification, and who is the first person that the Minister should be contacting when it comes to a spill?
Debates of March 7th, 2023
This is page numbers 5695 - 5762 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
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Shane Thompson Nahendeh
Thank you. Could the Member -- is it territorial or is it Alberta with the trans-boundary? Who is our contact; what's the question? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Frieda Martselos Thebacha
Thank you, Madam Chair. When the spill happened, it was kind of a surprise to everybody. Everybody was kind of running around and watching the media thing out there and doing all these other things. I'm just wondering what the protocol is with regards to who is the fist person that the Minister called in the territories with regards to this spill?
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Shane Thompson Nahendeh
Yes. I guess the first person I called once I found out was I reached out to the Premier. I reached out to her. And then the rest of Cabinet. And then we put something together, and we reached out to the MLAs as well as our Indigenous governments and the community impacted down in the south part. But for the whole process, I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Dr. Kelly
Thank you, Madam Chair. So in this particular spill, the community was already aware of it. So we knew that the Town of Fort Smith had been alerted by an Indigenous government who sent an email to them, and we were aware that they had been -- were already aware. Usually at the time where the Minister would find out if this was a BMC announcement where we were -- or notification, pardon me, where we were told. At the time that we were speaking with the Minister, we would also be in communication with the communities and the Indigenous governments through the Indigenous steering committee to make sure that they were aware and that we were starting to plan the additional monitoring while the Minister's office went about the letting the Premier and others know. In this particular case, the community was already aware of the spill and it was the regional superintendent of the South Slave who alerted Headquarters ENR because he became aware of it, which is not how the process is supposed to work. Alberta's supposed to let us know and notify us through the bilateral management committee. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Frieda Martselos Thebacha
So, Madam Chair, you know, I'm of the belief that water is life. I -- being in leadership for 14 years as the chief for the Salt River First Nation and also having been involved with the Dene Nation and the Akaitcho territory, water is very significant to life. And I'm just wondering who did you contact at the Town of Fort Smith? Who is the person that was contacted at the Town of Fort Smith. Thank you.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Dr. Kelly
Thank you, Madam Chair. So the email had gone to the mayor of Fort Smith. We were sent that by the regional superintendent. Because we have done monitoring with the community before and the Indigenous governments, we contacted the folks that work at the water treatment plant because that's where we put sampling equipment in the wintertime. So it was very similar to when Obed spill happened, and we worked with the community to put additional monitoring equipment in. We knew who to contact from that previous work. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Frieda Martselos Thebacha
So, Madam Chair, so it was done by email and that's the way the email went out to the Indigenous governments also, or? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Dr. Kelly
Thank you, Madam Chair. The communication with the Indigenous governments and the community was done by telephone. One of our water researchers who worked on the Obed work and knew the contacts communicated with them so that we could as quickly as possible get monitoring equipment installed. We also have a water quality monitoring expert that works at ENR in Fort Smith who was instantly engaged to go and meet and start talking to people about how we could get the monitoring equipment in. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5721
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th, 2023
Page 5722
Frieda Martselos Thebacha
I guess I have a concern about the way the protocol went because I've never been -- you know, I -- I'm not a computer person, and I knew that it had happened through hearsay but I was never approached by the Minister to tell me this actually happened. And I've never been -- he's never come down the hall to even explain to me exactly what happened even though I knew what happened. And I'm also concerned that I contacted one of the Indigenous governments, and they have not had no contact with -- with this whole water spill. And, you know, I'm of the -- you know, when we -- I think that it's extremely important that the protocol is followed. You know, I have a lot of respect for this department. Always did. Always supported it. And we used to take part in the monitoring program ourselves at the Salt River First Nation with people from both the federal and the territorial level people that come in to do the monitoring. And it amazes me that, you know, there's no contact with myself. Not once has anybody come to my office and said this is what's happening now, or anything. I mean, I expect that same respect that I give the Minister. And how hard is it? He's passing by my office every single morning. And, you know, I just want to make sure that the right protocol is followed. I love my community. I sit here and talk about all these different aspects of the community all the time, especially when it affects Indigenous livelihood and especially when it is part of the food security that we are all talking about now because of inflation, because of all the different things that I believe in. And I'm quite -- I'm quite disturbed that the Minister could sit there and say that, and he has not come to my office once in this last week. So there you go. So how much contact is really happening with the actual mayor, the acting chief of the Salt River, and the president of the Fort Smith local Metis Nation. That's what I'd like to know. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5722
Committee Motion 371-19(2): Tabled Document 813-19(2): 2023-2024 Main Estimates - Legislative Assembly - Deferral of Department (Page 5), Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 7th
Page 5722
Shane Thompson Nahendeh
So first and foremost, I'll take responsibility that I didn't reach out to the MLA. We sent an email. I was dealing with the Alberta government and that there. So I'll take ownership I haven't gone to her. But we did send an email. We sent it to all the Indigenous governments and the municipalities. I'll take the ownership, I haven't gone to her office. I will make sure it happens in the future. But for the other detail, I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.