Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to Minister Vandal for joining us.
I know, Minister Vandal, that you're quite aware of our situation in Northwest Territories. Our communities are on the front line of climate change. All the changes that are happening are really severely impacting our supply chains. We're seeing barges being redirected to record low levels in Northwest Territories. Our supplies have to be trucked all the way to Inuvik and then barged upstream because the Mackenzie River is drying up. There are sandbars all over the place. Even small boats with outboard motors are not able to get around. All of this is disrupting the resupply of essential products.
I wanted to know if you're having these discussions. Is this something you're talking about with territorial government people and indigenous governments? Are you talking about how the communities in Northwest Territories will have access to the goods they require? Not every community has a long runway. Many communities don't have roads, and shockingly, the Mackenzie River, which is the longest river in Canada and the second longest in North America, is all completely, at least in front of my community, gravel bars all over the place. There's no way barges are going to get by. We need to find a better way to do things.
What kinds of discussions are you having with your colleagues to look at the possibilities of how we can lower the cost? Having to redirect our supplies is really going to be draining on our communities. I don't know how some of them are going to continue to exist.