Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's been a long day, so I'm not going to stand and make a long speech about this one but just wanted to also express my support for this. I echo some of the comments made by my colleagues about reconciliation and self-determination which are things that matter to me and I support. Happy to support this. Looking forward to seeing that it brings resources into the territory that we haven't had previously for First Nations to move forward with not just conservation but realizing the benefits of conservation of their land. So happy to support it. I think it is an act of reconciliation by the House, and it's certainly something I that support. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. To the motion. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unlike -- I'm going to use all my 20 minutes. No, no, I'm kidding. It's been a long day. No, I won't be using my 20 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, I too want to rise in favour of this initiative. I've spoken to some of the leadership. I certainly like the intent. It was sold to me on the initiative. It's a great investment of new dollars. We should not overlook the fact that this brings not only federal government dollars to empower Indigenous organizations and groups, but peoples and families and help protect our environment. This is all good stuff, Mr. Speaker.

The one thing of note, though, I would say that this -- it shouldn't go past, and I know we're all pretending it didn't but, you know, I think it's important that we remind ourselves how we went through this process, how we need to work closer together. And, you know, I was never a believer that this wouldn't get to this point in the sense of succeed but, you know, there are -- you know, like all legislation challenges, there's ups and downs. And I would say that I think ILI did their part, and I certainly say the government, you know, could have warmed up with us a little sooner on some of the information and -- but the Members, I think, did their heavy lifting and our due diligence as are required by all, and so I'm glad that we got it through. And I -- from what I understand, this works with your hoped timeframes. And the important part is to stress, as I finish, Mr. Speaker, is, you know, the Assembly needs to be and wants to be partners with these folks as well, and these governments, these peoples, and these initiatives. So it's a lot to all bundle together, but the -- lastly is it's a great thing. Thank you.

Member from Yellowknife Centre. To the motion. Member from Monfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am -- I do support this bill as well. I am pleased. I know that there's a lot of people are going to benefit from it in NWT. I know everyone's going to benefit from it. So I am pleased to see the good working relationship between the Cabinet and Indigenous government which we never had before. So it's -- so we are making progress. So I am quite pleased about that. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Monfwi. To the motion.

Question has been called. The Member has asked for a recorded vote. To the Member from Thebacha. To the debate.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that a lot of the tremendous words from my colleagues here in this House have certainly relayed the message of the importance of this initiative and how beneficial it will be to the territory.

I would be remiss if I did not stand up here and thank my colleagues in this House for their tremendous amount of work. I know this was a difficult process that was not the norm. We asked a lot of the Regular Members and Cabinet to move this forward at the pace in which we did. And for that, I'm truly thankful.

I also would like to recognize the amount of work that went into this initiative from ILI, from the Indigenous governments, from the GNWT, from all of the staff that were involved to get this through today. And I'm -- truly, I stand up here with a lot of pride to be part of this group of Northerners, both in this House and up in the gallery and in the communities and watching around the NWT, to sit here and be able to say that we accomplished this. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. To the motion.

Question has been called. The Minister of Environment and Climate Change has asked for a recorded vote. All those in favour, please stand.

All those opposed, please stand. All those abstaining, please stand. Thank you. All those in favour, 17. Those opposed, zero. Abstentions, zero. Bill 15 has passed.

---Carried

Before we get onto this, I would like to actually thank Dottie Tetso that started two and a half years ago where she sat there and looked at me and went you want me to do what in this timeframe? Thanks to her leadership, the Indigenous governments' leadership, last year's Cabinet, and this year's Cabinet, for getting this done. And I look forward to the success we are moving forward. So thank you very much and, again, thank you.

Third reading of bills. Orders of the day, Mr. Clerk.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. This House stands adjourned until Friday, November 1st, 2024, at 10 a.m.

---ADJOURNMENT

The House adjourned at 6:46 p.m.