Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to discuss Bill 15, Northwest Territories Indigenous-Led Conservation Fund Establishment Act.

I would also like to thank the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment for receiving a technical briefing on the legislative proposal on October 23rd. Based on the feedback from committee, several amendments were made to the bill before you today. The NWT Project Finance for Permanence, or PFP, Agreement, which has been renamed the Our Land for the Future Agreement, was negotiated by the partnership of 23 Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations, the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Government of Canada, and three private donors. The agreement will provide long-term funding for Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations to support Indigenous-led conservation, stewardship, and related economic diversification.

The process was Indigenous-led. Negotiations involved extensive collaborative discussions between the partners with the Indigenous leadership initiative acting as a facilitator. In August of this year, the final draft PFP agreement negotiations were completed.

I have approval, as Minister of Environment and Climate Change, to sign the PFP agreement on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories.

A signing ceremony will be held on November 14th in Behchoko. Canada is currently seeking approval to sign the agreement. While this agreement has not yet been signed, we will be tabling a copy of the agreement tomorrow for the purposes of transparency and for the ease of reviewing the bill.

The Our Land for the Future Agreement makes no changes to our existing regulatory or decision-making structures in the NWT, nor does it commit the GNWT to establishing new protected areas. The bill before us today would establish the Our Land for the Future Trust as a not-for-profit body corporate for the purposes of *

Holding, investing, and managing funds contributed to the Trust in accordance with the PFP Agreement;

Distributing funds to eligible Indigenous partners to carry out core activities in accordance with the Agreement; and,

Supporting the partners in achieving the purpose, vision, and objectives of the agreement.

Establishing a Trust in this way will provide the strongest case to the Canada Revenue Agency that the trust will be able to receive and disburse tax-exempt funds. I look forward to committee of the whole's review of Bill 15. Thank you, Mr. Chair.