Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, yes, we do -- staff does participate in that process, and they provide advice. And I'll pass to deputy minister Jenkins; perhaps he can provide a little more detail beyond advice. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Deputy minister Jenkins.

Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So thank you for that answer, for the detailed answer. So just to clarify, though, that during proceedings, during the public portion of an environmental assessment when, you know, evidence is being presented, like, those subject-matter experts and maybe they're, you know, water scientists, hydrologists, or maybe they're biologists, do they -- do they get to publicly present the information they have that they think it's important to know about the potential impacts, say, of a road, or are those presentations -- you said that they get to inform infrastructure officials. Is that just happening, like, behind the scenes but not in public? Can you clarify whether there's an opportunity for those subject-matter experts on their own to present what they feel are the important impacts or considerations related to those projects? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister for Environment and Climate Change.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll pass to deputy minister Jenkins. Thank you.

Deputy minister Jenkins.

Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This internal dispute resolution process that you're talking about, I assume it refers to, like, if experts or individuals from different departments have really different views on what should be done about a project. Do you have more details on what that internal dispute resolution process looks like? Is it written down somewhere; is it sort of informal protocol or understanding? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll pass to deputy minister Jenkins.

Deputy minister Jenkins.

Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll leave it there for now, but I do hope to follow up with a Member's statement and questions later on this session. Thanks for your patience and for letting us come back to this one. Thank you.

I have next, Member for Range Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I know that the Ministers -- or our witnesses have already been asked about municipal land transfers, and specifically in my community of Yellowknife, but I'd like to ask what the outstanding issues are with respect to that land transfer in the city and also ask that the clock be reset. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Sorry about that. Okay. Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I think that one of the issues that we have certainly been attempting to look into greatly is that there's a requirement for consultation with the Indigenous governments on land transfer within the municipality, and to approach a bulk land transfer from the perspective of there's not a clear definition of what the intent is for all of the parcels that may be part of that proposed land transfer is one of the certainly challenging aspects of that approach. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Member for Range Lake.

Thank you. So I guess the intention -- I'm somewhat perplexed because I guess the intention of the policy -- what's being called for -- and I think my colleague, the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, yes, was mentioning that, you know, let -- like, you transfer it to the municipality and then they decide what happens to it. And that's my intention -- or that's where my head goes to, because you want to give the municipalities or local authorities the flexibility to develop at their own pace and to make use of opportunities, whether that's selling land and making a profit of off it, whether it's developing land for affordable housing, whatever. So the rights issue, of course, that's always going to be something that the Crown has to consider in this country, and I don't take issue with that. I would note, though, that the Yellowknives Dene in particular have been consulted on this in the past and I think have been supported through things like -- through bodies like the NWTAC. I think the Metis have also been -- have also had discussions around this as well with Yellowknife city administration and council. So just to the other point, why do we care as a government what municipalities do with their land in a request like this when what we're trying to do is give them the flexibility to make use of land within municipal boundaries. And that's important. It's not land out in the middle of nowhere; it's lands within their own municipal boundaries. Thank you.