Delivered on February 12, 2018

Mr. Speaker, our government committed to providing support for mineral exploration and the mining sector, and to support the territorial vision of land and resource management in accordance with the Land Use and Sustainability Framework. The proposed Mineral Resources Act will be landmark, made-in-the-North legislation for our territory, and we are investing in its drafting with this degree of importance. 

YELLOWKNIFE (February 7, 2018) – A delegation of Northwest Territories leaders took part in a successful week of meetings and events while representing the NWT at the 2018 Mineral Exploration Round Up conference held in Vancouver, British Columbia.

YELLOWKNIFE (February 6, 2018) – Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs Caroline Cochrane issued the following statement congratulating NWT Olympians:

“As the Minister whose portfolio includes sports and recreation in the NWT, I would like to congratulate Northerners Brendan Green, Jesse Cockney, and Kevin Koe, who will be competing for Canada at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea.

YELLOWKNIFE (January 23, 2018) — The Government of the Northwest Territories has released its What We Heard report on public engagements that will inform the development of a new NWT Mineral Resources Act (MRA).

The GNWT’s public engagement on the MRA encompassed seven well-attended community visits across the NWT and submissions collected from an interactive engagement portal, small-group meetings, email, social media, phone, and mail.

Delivered on January 23, 2018

I’d like to welcome you all here today for what I hope will be an opportunity for us to have an open discussion about what we can do to better support resource development in the NWT together.

I don’t have to tell the people here that resource development is the engine of the NWT’s economy.

I also don’t have to tell you that we can’t take the health of our industry for granted. There are still challenges to doing business in the Northwest Territories and we need to work together to find solutions.

YELLOWKNIFE (January 23, 2018) – Three new publications from the Northwest Territories Geological Survey (NTGS) are furthering understanding of – and interest in – the Northwest Territories mineral wealth.

The publications are:

Thank you. I’m pleased to be back at AME Roundup and share the perspectives of the NWT as part of this important discussion.

Many of you are likely aware that the NWT is itself the third-largest producer of diamonds by value in the world, but I would like to take a moment to talk about our industry as a whole.

The NWT has massive mineral potential and vast swaths of unexplored land across our 1.3 million square kilometres of the Canadian Shield.

YELLOWKNIFE (January 19, 2018) – Wally Schumann, Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment issued the following statement in reaction to yesterday’s announcement that the GNWT has received the Diamonds Do Good Responsible Government Award (To be presented May 31, 2018):

“It is an honour to be recognized by the Diamond Empowerment Fund as the 2018 recipient of the Diamonds Do Good Responsible Government Award.

YELLOWKNIFE (January 18, 2018) — The Northwest Territories’ (NWT) near-billion-dollar mining industry is seeking a push at a crucial time.

With no industry close to providing the level of economic benefit, jobs, and revenues that mining offers and current operating mines set to begin winding down in 2024, exploration is needed today to ensure the NWT’s next mining projects reach production in time.

YELLOWKNIFE (January 15, 2018) – Premier Bob McLeod will be speaking to business, industry, environmental organizations and academics on the future of the Northwest Territories in Vancouver next week.

As part of a continued effort to make the North and its future part of the national discussion, Premier McLeod will be leading a roundtable discussion at the Simon Fraser University Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue on January 22.