Mr. Speaker, each year the Dead North Film Festival inspires people from across the Arctic to get out and shoot short film creations in the depths of winter. It also brings Northerners together to support the film sector and have fun at this horror and fantasy genre event.
Mr. Speaker, the 19th Legislative Assembly has identified increasing resource exploration and development for the benefit of the people of the Northwest Territories, as a priority for this government.
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Good evening everyone, and welcome.
Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututht First Nations.
I would also like to take a moment and extend regrets from the Premier of the Northwest Territories, Caroline Cochrane for not being able to join us this evening.
Investors at the AME Roundup and beyond will have a better understanding of the opportunities, investment climate and path to working with two Indigenous Governments thanks to new mineral development strategies released by the Gwich’in Tribal Council (GTC) and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC).
The release of the strategies was welcomed this morning at the AME Roundup – an event at which Northwest Territories Indigenous governments and organizations have been playing a growing and significant role.
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Good afternoon everyone.
I’m excited to be here today for this event and in Vancouver for Roundup, with our partners like Cheetah Resources and Nahanni Det’on Cho.
As many of you now, the NWT was built on mining.
But mining is not just our history. It’s our future and today, we celebrate an exciting new chapter.
An updated bedrock geology map and database will aid explorers and academic researchers investigating the mineral-rich Slave Geological Province.
The updated map, resulting from several years of data collection and analysis, has been published by the Northwest Territories Geological Survey (NTGS) in partnership with the Canada-Nunavut Geoscience Office. Dr. Mike Stubley, a former Government of Northwest Territories employee and highly-experienced geologist, led the work. The updated map is based on Dr. Stubley’s original map published by the NTGS in 2005.
This weekend, Cabinet members, Indigenous governments and Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) officials will head to Vancouver for AME Mineral Roundup – one of Canada’s largest mining conferences.
The19th Legislative Assembly has identified increasing resource exploration and development as a priority. As Cabinet finalizes their Mandate, participation in this event demonstrates their commitment to the priority and to working in partnership with Indigenous governments and stakeholders to advocate and voice support for this sector.
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Good evening. On behalf of Premier Cochrane, thank you to the Denendeh Development Corporation for the invitation to address you this evening.
These are early days for our government but I hope you are getting a sense the renewed energy and commitment that we have as an Assembly.
I am happy to say that this government has hit the ground running.
Everyone in this room and our recently elected leaders have a common goal and that is a desire to improve the economic future of our territory.
Premier Cochrane and her Cabinet colleagues left a clear message with the NWT mining and exploration sector last week, during the annual Geoscience Forum: increasing resource exploration and development is a priority.
Members of the Executive Council took advantage of numerous opportunities to speak and engage with delegates and visitors of the annual event. Their focus was on establishing relationships with industry and to hear ideas on how to advance the territory’s main economic driver over the term of the 19th Legislative Assembly.
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It is an honour to be here with everyone to celebrate excellence in mining and exploration.
I would like to recognize the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, the NWT Geological Survey, and the many staff and volunteers who make this event possible each year.
Our government is pleased to be both partner and sponsor of the Annual Yellowknife Geoscience Forum and this evening’s awards.
All of us here recognize that the history of the Northwest Territories cannot be separated from mining and exploration.
