Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that. I very much appreciate that.

Mr. Speaker, the last change that I highlighted in my Member's statement today was the change for remissible loans. It added that for the eligibility requirement of students, I would like to understand why the GNWT wants to remove the eligibility requirement of students being schooled in the Northwest Territories for remissible loans without adding a return to the North clause for non-NWT schooled students. This has been one of the strongest retention tools that the NWT has, and I'm wondering why ECE is choosing to remove that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So by linking the number of years of schooling to the remissible loan program, I'm not sure if that is necessarily a retention tool because you have to go to school first before you get the SFA. The remissible loan actually is remissible if you move back to the territory. So a resident, and I know some people who moved here when they were 17, 18 so they didn't actually do school here, but now they have families here. But, you know, they've made comments that I would have liked to have been able to access some sort of student financial assistance. So this is an opportunity for those individuals as well. But make no mistake, the idea of the remissible loan is that after students complete their education, they come back to the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to miss questioning the Minister responsible for Lands, but I hear this new Minister for Environment and Climate Change has got some great answers for me.

Firstly, Mr. Speaker, I just want to confirm whether we are on track to finish the Public Land Act regulations and get the Public Land Act implemented in the life of this Assembly. I note it's been four years to develop those regulations, and it seems like it's about time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change.

Thank you. I think I'm going to give the same answers the Minister of Lands used to give. So we're working with the IGC process. We're working with our Indigenous government. And so it is a process that we need to respect, and it's going to take a little bit of time but we're trying to make sure we get it right. And so, again, what I'm hoping is to have it done but we still need to respect the IGC process. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think central to that question is whether any changes to how we treat Indigenous cabin holders on public land will be changing. Right now, we're still operating under the same approach largely that we inherited from the federal government. I know there's a lot of different requests of how you could do that, changing the fee structure, the tax structure, even the rules about what is and isn't required to have a lease. Are we going to have any policy changes to how we approach Indigenous cabin holders on public land occur in this government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, ECC is working with our Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations across the NWT on our approach to manage potential rights-based cabins on public land. A new approach must be developed with Indigenous governments and organizations, and those discussions take time. Engagement has started and is ongoing and will continue throughout the summer. ECC is committed to making the improvements, and all this would ideally occur within this life of the government. We need to ensure that we are doing the work respectfully and properly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know also on the list of our policy work for the new department to complete is, you know, figuring out what's going on in the Yellowknife periphery area with our recreational leases. I believe there was plans to, you know, assuming we worked with our partners to get a cabin lottery again for the fall. It's been a number of years, and there was a lot of pent of demand. So are we on track to have a cabin lottery in the North Slave occur this fall? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was hoping that we would have been in a position to have a lottery or ballot draw during the life of this Assembly. However, there are complex issues related to the issuance of new leases in this area that remains unresolved. It is important that we take the time to discuss and make progress on these issues before we conduct another ballot draw. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, that's probably one of the number one questions I get from constituents is what's going on there. I'm wondering at the very least whether we -- I get there's a consultation process but whether we could get some public information about what we're even considering, how many cabins, where they would be, and kind of the steps of a path forward to whether that could occur. I think there's a lot of demand to know what is going on in this area so any sort of public information would be welcomed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if we can get the information and provide that publicly, we will do that, but I don't want to make a commitment saying we'll get that information if we can't do it legally and that. But we will work to try to get as much information to the Member and now publicly as we can. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I previously raised this issue in March of 2023, I was pleased to learn that the Premier was listen to the concerns from the Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh riding. I am hopeful that the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, is also listening to the serious concerns raised here today. However, Mr. Speaker, KOSMOS 954 has been around for decades and the voices of the people most impacted have been unheard.

Has the Premier had any discussions with the Prime Minister of Canada since I raised this issue in the House in March 2023? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, at this point, since March 2023, I haven't had any meetings with the prime minister, so this has not been addressed with the prime minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. This matter is one that should be major concerns for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Regardless of the status of discussion with the Government of Canada, what will she do to help the serious cumulative impact of KOSMOS 954 in the Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh riding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually, when it was first brought to my attention last sitting -- I can't remember if it was March, it was the first I've heard of it in honesty. I stated, I mean, I was here in the '70s, I just wasn't paying attention to the sky at the time. But I did do a little bit more research after that and looked into it. I think that there was a lot of research. I mean, there was a lot of research done at the time. The research found that there was no causal link between the debris from the satellite with cancer incidents, specifically in the Fort Resolution area. The research also stated that the particulate fallout, the dust, was insoluble and lacked some of the more dangerous products thereby lessening the potential environmental impacts.

In saying that, Mr. Speaker, I know that Indigenous people for many years have been told, don't worry, it's good, and then bad things have come. So I think in fairness to the Member, if there are concerns from the community, if the Member feels that it would be any benefit, I'd be more than willing to -- if the Member invites me, to go into his community and listen to the concerns of people if that's what the Member would like. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Premier, for your feedback and some of the research you've done. But a lot of that stuff you just mentioned could also be brought out through a public hearing and public inquiry with facts and evidence so that's what -- that's what I'm going to be calling for. However, Mr. Speaker, with new technology available today that could help us detect sources of radiation that could shed light on the real impacts of the Kosmos 954, will the Premier direct her government to pursue a modern approaches to radiation study in the areas impacted by Kosmos 954 in the Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh riding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Final supplementary. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And earlier the Premier had mentioned that they did a study and it talks about cancer, etcetera. But I attended a lot of Dene Nation assemblies, Akaitcho assemblies in my -- in the Akaitcho region and over the years and decades, I've been to many, many funerals and a lot of them were cancer-related. We just don't know where and what. So that's why if we were to have a public inquiry, a lot of this stuff will be fleshed out and give a clearer picture.

Mr. Speaker, the Giant Mine remediation project is the model that could be used to address the impacts of Kosmos 954, including a multi-year project to study impacts and mitigate damages while ensuring the community and those affected receive through, one, public inquiry, which includes:

An environment assessment and this could include the Canadian nuclear safety commission; compensation for the historic harm done to the land and trappers and communities in the Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh riding; and lastly, is the public apology.

My question to the Premier is will the Premier Cochrane work with the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, to call for a public inquiry and fund a public inquiry immediately and through this environmental assessment process? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have the ability to be able to tell the prime minister what to do, what to fund, etcetera. I wish I did have that power; we'd be a lot better off in the Northwest Territories. However, I don't. So what I can do, though, is, like I said, I will write a letter to the prime minister. I'll explain the concerns of the MLA, that he's hearing these from his people, and I'll ask the prime minister what new research has been done with this and raise the request to do a public inquiry. We won't do it as the GNWT but I will write a letter to the prime minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.