Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I do have some remarks I want to make that I have drafted. I do want to just start by acknowledging the frustration that it has taken a long time and we are still in the process of completing the Mineral Resource Act regulations. And through that process, without the regulations, of course, this is where we wind up in this situation we are in. And there's a very real chance at the end of the drafting of the regulations when the entire process is complete, including royalties, there may well be a process in place by which the kind of disclosure that's made available is even more fulsome than what is contemplated by this bill.
Fundamentally, the remarks I want to make, really though, are focused on the process that we are in in terms of developing that -- in terms of developing those regulations. It's a collaborative process with the Indigenous governments. ITI has been going through the legislative -- this legislative protocol process with Intergovernmental Council. It is -- we were the first department out of the gate to have the opportunity to utilize that process. And it's been time consuming because it's new. And it was new for everyone. It was new for us. It was new for Indigenous governments. And to do it right certainly has taken some time, and the inability to meet in person during COVID certainly did not help in expediting that work as we were trying to get the process moving and to have these meetings collaborative -- having collaborative meetings, which really did require in-person meetings. So it has taken longer than I would have hoped. And it is frustrating for all involved, and I appreciate it's been frustrating for people who have been waiting for it. And I know the MLA who sponsored this bill was deeply involved in the Mineral Resources Act last Assembly and was -- and had a very keen interest in this work in this Assembly.
I recognize also the comments around, you know, what the schedule, what the plan, what's coming next. Again, there's been some disruption over this summer obviously as to the ability to attend here and put information out. I think the Member only quite recently has seen that we do have a very comprehensive status update coming out -- it will be tabled in this House -- that does give a very good sense of exactly where we are at, all of the work that has been done, and what is coming next. And, indeed, one of the things that is, indeed, coming next is the discussion of royalties, which includes the opportunity for industry to meet with us, for us, first of all, to meet with Indigenous governments through the process to ensure that as the regs are developed that they are developed in a way for royalties that will allow as much transparency as possible. So that's the duplicative nature here to me is really do we wait for a process that has been underway now for some time that is deeply involving the Intergovernmental Council that has now worked out how that Intergovernmental Council work would be done and allow that to run its course or carve out this one issue and have a side piece of legislation. So I am asking people to let us keep doing the work we're doing.
As to the Petroleum Resources Act, just a note, the Mineral Resources Act is the priority. There's not a whole lot happening right now under the Petroleum Resources Act. But ultimately, the process for updating that will also go through the Intergovernmental Council legislative process. So in due course, that will also come to.
But, really, the -- I want to emphasize the concerns that are being raised by -- and that are being sought to be amended or fixed, the departments and the Intergovernmental Council technical working group who are involved, they're well aware of the desire for more information, the desire to see some sort of change and some sort of greater access to information but, again, it's the idea of letting that process work its way through. As I said, there's actually a chance that the disclosure may be more broad than what's actually contemplated in the bill that's before the House right now. I can't say for sure. What I want to say is, you know -- and even I'll go so far as to say in the discussions that have been had to date with industry, they know there's some change coming. And I don't even know that there's any reluctance to see the change. The desires for that change to happen systemically, for it to happen as part of a total package, for it to happen as part of the process that we've been working through for quite some time now.
Although of note that I will say other jurisdictions that have amended their legislation in this space have taken years as well. So while this is slower than what I would have hoped, it's not necessarily slower than what it might have been anywhere else. And our process is one that will produce, I think, a better piece of legislation and one that the territories can ultimately be proud of. It's going to give us the ability to say that we have something distinct, unique, involving those who are traditional holders of the lands and all levels of government. So that work is important.
And, again, I do -- I'm asking for that time for that work to be continued and to be concluded. We are committed to a process that is thorough and respectful of the legislative process. There's again some disagreement as to whether or not one can go into a discussion of royalties without sharing the individual royalties of an individual mine. I'm not sure that we will ever see eye to eye on this one, the Member and myself, because there's a lot of work that's happening right now that. That is the stage that we're at is to try to be at a place where we can model mines. And in my view it is not necessary to model a mine that was built and developed under an old regime in order to develop whether or not -- or to decide whether or not a new regime is actually better or more appropriate for the circumstances of the North, and therefore having the individual royalties paid ten years ago, or five years ago, or three years ago doesn't necessarily undermine any of the work to be done modeling a theoretical mine that would happen under the new regime of the Northwest Territories or in the current climate or market of the Northwest Territories mineral resource industry.
So, again, is this -- is the information contemplated here, in fact, even necessary? And, again, arguably, I'd suggest it's not to the extent that it's of interest to the sector and of interest to the territory, of interest to legislators, to Indigenous governments, again, the process we are in right now is seeking to find a path for greater transparency and information.
A side example, if you will, we are looking at a process by which Indigenous governments are going to be notified when people are looking to have mineral resource claims on their traditional territories or on their modern treaty land holds. So that is something that we're already doing in the Northwest Territories that is different from elsewhere. That sort of process of what that will look like, the timing, how long we might need to be able to respond, that has been worked through with the IGC. Disclosure of royalties information should go through that same process. What kinds of information will be beneficial, what kinds of information will add meaningfully to the conversation, and what should be protected so that we have a sector that feels that this is still a place to invest and that is respectful of their business decisions.
So I know I'm running low on time, Madam Chair. It's taking me longer than I expected. I suppose my last comment here is really I want to just note -- I want to thank the Member for raising the issue repeatedly. I do -- I do think it's important when governments and when government officials hear something enough, it does not go away. It doesn't get lost. It's very difficult in my view to walk away from an issue that gets this kind of attention. Even if the current bill does not pass, it would be very difficult to pretend that the issue wasn't made deeply clear, deeply abundant, and obviously some Members may vote for it and some Members may vote against, but there's clearly been enough interest in this that I would think any future government would be remiss to not take that under consideration as they develop the final regulations that are yet to come and that I hope will be coming soon. Thank you, Madam Chair.