Debates of Feb. 24th, 2026

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And with the director position, what justifies the need for a new director? I mean, that's a significant and indefinite investment. ITI is a relatively small department. Can you comment on, say, the number of directors that ITI already has compared to other departments given the size of ITI, like the total staff numbers? And, like, what's the rationale for needing a new director position? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, ITI went through a very extensive review of their entire org chart and rewrote, actually, 83 job descriptions as part of this work to make sure that people's roles would be shifting, that we were trying to work within the staff means that we had within the department. And the need for an added director is because there is a requirement to ensure that we are separating the regulatory versus the mineral promotion roles within the department, because the roles have changed and the expectation on the department has changed as per the co-drafted Mineral Resources Act legislation. Thank you.

Thank you. I will go to the Member from the Yellowknife North.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. And so the federal money that is sunsetting for Mineral Resources Act implementation, obviously we haven't seen implementation yet. It seems to have dragged out for a number of years. But what was actually accomplished with that federal funding that's sunsetting given that we haven't yet seen the MRI come into force with regulations? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the engagements that still have to happen around the territory still exist. It really enabled participation and meaningful participation from Indigenous governments, which is key to projects in the territory, as well as the fact that we co-draft our legislation and our regulations in the Northwest Territories. So a tremendous amount of work has been done. It certainly is taking time. But this is a leading piece of legislation in Canada, not just the Northwest Territories. We are co-drafting how we are going to develop land in the territory from a mineral resources perspective. And we're doing that hand-in-hand with a shared plan with Indigenous governments. And this is something that other jurisdictions have actually looked to the NWT, placed phone calls, wanted to know how we're working together, how we're doing it, and how it's going. So there are a lot of eyes on the territory right now as this work unfolds. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also wanted to ask about the new $150,000 being allocated under the line item Indigenous capacity building. Can you explain what are the expected outcomes or targets from that new -- I don't know if it's a new category of thing or that new activity? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So in the Indigenous capacity building program is the program, the funding program that ITI uses to help Indigenous governments participate at different conferences, shows, and through different events that are happening where you find a lot of conversation around projects that are unfolding in the territory or want to unfold in the territory. And so it enables and empowers Indigenous governments to participate and be at the table where they ultimately need to be at the table to make sure that they're working on, you know, what their expectations are, how they want to be engaged within their communities, how they want to participate in these projects. And so it is absolutely imperative that Indigenous governments are empowered to participate and be at the table. Thank you.

Thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I mean, I would never dispute that, absolutely, Indigenous governments need to be at the table and negotiating on their own behalf. I guess I would love to see if someone could do some analysis at some point as to whether our level of attendance at conferences and conventions and things and, you know, ITI staff in particular, I think, tend to -- and the Minister, I know, spends a lot of time traveling to various places going to these conventions and conferences. But whether our level of attendance, if we ramped it up by 200 percent, would we then, you know, get 200 percent more investment or more companies interested in investing in the territory? Like, what is the sort of value for money in attending those conferences? And if we had more people attending, do we get more value or, you know, what is an efficient level of sort of resource allocation and how many people and who actually needs to be at these kinds of conferences? Because it seems like a potential sort of money sink that lots of people want to go to lots of conferences but how do we measure what we actually get out of it.

I will just turn to -- okay, so the projection of revenues, and so this is back a little bit in the revenue summary, but revenues from minerals, oil, and gas royalties. Last year's actual revenues was, looks like around $65,000, and we're projecting for these main estimates $196,000 in revenue. I mean, I know it's still peanuts compared to years past, but what gives us confidence that we can go up from last year's actual revenues or royalties amounts to $196,000; what gives us confidence in this new revenue forecast? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, these numbers are put together in the fall and, as we know, life continues to change, so it can be very difficult right now to predict where diamond markets are going to go. Likely, it will most likely be lower. And also included in that is Norman Wells for Imperial Oil. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Next on my list I've got is the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to my colleague before me. I got an answer on one of my questions already, so okay.

Just for clarity's sake, and because it is noted in the business plan and just to have this in the conversation this evening, can the Minister speak to, I think in the business plan it flags that the MRA regs are expected to be in force in fiscal year 2027-2028. Can she clarify if this means it will be happening before the end of this Assembly or the beginning of the 21st? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, it will be this Assembly, and we are working very hard to make sure that we are mitigating all of the risks to that. So, for example, one that was brought to my attention was the amount of time it takes to translate and as for official languages, we need to make sure that we have time built in to translate all of the regulations as well. Thank you.

Thank you. I will go to the Member from Great Slave.

I feel like that might have been me in past Committee of the Whole but thank you to the Minister for that.

On a completely different note, Mr. Chair, the NWT geological survey is under this activity, and the staff, and perhaps this is not the same as NTGS, or is it? It is. Okay, thank you. Sometimes the acronym soup gets lost on me too.

So SCEDE had the pleasure of attending the NTGS not too long ago and meeting with staff and getting to understand some of their projects. And one of those projects that was explained to MLAs by staff was the carbon capture study and how that works, as best they could, to a layperson. So, thank you again to staff for that. That study, according to the business plan, is anticipated to be complete by the end of the fiscal year. Can the Minister provide an update on that work and how this work will align and assist petroleum and LNG development in the future. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

So, Mr. Chair, this work is still ongoing. There's another year left where results need to be brought in from this study that is being done and is being co-funded. For the Member's second question as to what this means for LNG and the territory, and so essentially carbon sequestration means that as you're extracting the LNG from the ground, you can take the carbon capture and essentially feed it into some of the rocks in the territory. So the work being done is to determine how much and how effective it is, and so what it could ultimately do is potentially lower the greenhouse gases for Mackenzie Delta LNG or even potentially the M18 well up in the Beaufort Delta. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Great Slave.