Environment committee  They've had a seat for us at the table, so we've been able to make our case. As we've done that work, we've also done the work with the transboundary agreement with Alberta. That is a very comprehensive agreement, groundbreaking; we've made very significant progress to address ou

Environment committee  In the last number of years, across every jurisdiction of the country, there's been increasing public interest and concern about water. In the Northwest Territories we're no different. It was very clear to us that it was an issue. I referenced Northern Voices, Northern Waters, o

Environment committee  Alberta used its own process. We had one that involved, right from the start of the stewardship strategy, working with the aboriginal governments as part of the process, through the development of the water strategy and into the negotiations with a steering committee. Alberta has

Environment committee  Northern Voice, Northern Waters was a critical piece of work for us and it involved the federal government. I have it here on my desk. My signature is on it and former Minister Chuck Strahl's. It was a critical document that gave us the political licence to move forward. While th

Environment committee  Yes, the upstream of Alberta, B.C., definitely—and Saskatchewan.

Environment committee  Absolutely. Everything is tied to the implementation, and built into the agreement is the process we're supposed to follow with making sure that we meet and how we monitor all the details. These are very comprehensive agreements. The agreement with Alberta is almost a hundred

Environment committee  We were involved when that initiative started. Of course, as I mentioned, we're interested and concerned to see that it continues, there's a life to that monitoring initiative. We see it as critical, especially now if they're going to add biological monitoring and indicators to t

Environment committee  You are correct.

Environment committee  There are two things. The federal government has a continuing role with the broad agreement in the Mackenzie River Basin Board, which enables bilateral agreements to be negotiated. They currently chair that. It's a board that needs revitalizing, because the ministers haven't met

Environment committee  Yes. The Mackenzie River Basin Board Transboundary Waters Master Agreement was signed by all the involved jurisdictions, including the federal government. That agreement enabled the setting up of the board. It also triggered the responsibility to negotiate these bilateral agree

Environment committee  Yes. We work with other—

Environment committee  Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to share our views on the Canada Water Act Annual Report for April 2013 to March 2014. In our review of the report, we did not identify any areas of significant concern to the Government of the Northwest Territories; however, we note