Thank you for the question.
Environment Canada has provided technical and scientific advice in support of CIMP since the program's inception 10 years ago. This is a program that's been going on for 10 years. The program has been governed by the representatives of the land claim groups, INAC, and the Government of the Northwest Territories. Environment Canada has been at the table, but in an observer capacity. Despite that, I think it's fair to say that we've contributed quite actively in that role.
We've contributed in the past and expect to contribute in a similar way in the future, and in four ways, really. First of all, we'll be supporting the program partners in determining the needs and the priorities for environmental monitoring in the Northwest Territories, so we'll be sorting out what the needs are before we decide on which projects.
We'll also be providing technical advice on what are the valued components of the ecosystem that we should be protecting, monitoring, and assessing the cumulative impacts for. We'll be looking at indicators and some of the monitoring protocols. It's that whole area of technical advice that we'll be providing.
We'll be reviewing specific monitoring proposals as they come into the program.
Finally, we'll actually be doing some of the monitoring. Some of our scientists can apply and get funding from this program, so they'll bring their own expertise. They'll bring some of Environment Canada's resources to the table and then they'll actually do some of the work, because we have scientists who work in this field.
Those are the four ways in which we contribute to this program. We look forward to working with INAC and the other partners as this program moves into its new phase.