Environment committee  Thank you for the question. We have recommendation number 9 in our brief, which says, “ensure that work towards a National Strategy on Flood and Drought is informed by realities of northern and small jurisdictions and understands the importance of supporting network expansion to meet data requirements for forecasting.”

Environment committee  Leveraging what jurisdictions are already doing in that arena is important. There is a federal role in what we're doing with transboundary work right now. Transboundary is an area of federal jurisdiction, as well. How can we work together on those things, particularly at a watershed scale?

Environment committee  I'm sorry. I wasn't quite clear on the end of that translation. Again, anything related to hydroelectricity.... Certainly we have hydro projects right now being renewed. They go through licensing and assessment. I'm not familiar with the bill you're referring to. Again, I'm sorry.

Environment committee  I'm happy to start on that. Certainly, there are the environmental assessment, regulatory reviews and opportunities to provide input through that process. Maybe I can touch on areas that we are responsible for. As an example, we're working together with the Northwest Territories and British Columbia right now.

Environment committee  I'll have to get back to the committee on this. This isn't an area we can speak to. Yukon Energy, working together with.... There is another branch within the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources that works on this collaboratively, so we could certainly provide something back, but it's not anything that we're able to speak to.

Environment committee  I will defer that one to Brendan Mulligan. As our senior scientist on groundwater, he's the best-placed person to answer.

Environment committee  I'd like to add that this is actually an important federal role. It's transboundary. It's related to climate change. This is information that supports not just Yukoners but all Canadians.

Environment committee  Yes, we were certainly engaged in the process in 2020, when we were first engaged on it, and in 2021. Both Julian and I were northern panellists on a regional presentation that we provided through the Canada water agency. Yes, we have been providing input. We provided, I think, about 20 pages' worth of comments, many of which we provided here in our brief today, regarding groundwater and transboundary issues.

Environment committee  Absolutely. Yes, we have a bilateral agreement with the national hydrometric program, the Water Survey of Canada. We have a bilateral agreement on surface water, and we would love to see a similar agreement on the groundwater side of things. We have had that agreement in place, I think, since the 1970s, and it's a very important agreement for us.

Environment committee  I'm sorry, can I have you repeat the question? There are a couple of questions in there, and I'd like to write them down.

Environment committee  Starting with the first one, ensuring that water needs are there, as both Brendan and I talked about, there's the YESAB process for assessing a project, and then there's a water licence process. Through that process, we have the opportunity to provide input on those applications, water use and deposit of waste.

Environment committee  Again, we provide one piece of the assessment process. Certainly, when there is a big project like Casino or projects like that, there would typically be a public hearing, and it's a public event where interveners, including technical staff like Brendan, would attend to provide input around impacts.

Environment committee  That's a good question. I believe the people who represent the federal government on the Yukon Water Board are here. I'm sorry. We are not part of the Yukon Water Board, so we're not really sure how that works. Certainly, within the Yukon government, we provide our expertise and input on those issues.

Environment committee  That's certainly not part of what we work on, but we could follow up on that question.

Environment committee  Our fourth theme that's provided in the brief is transboundary water management. Yukon shares borders with Northwest Territories, British Columbia and Alaska. There are a variety of arrangements in the Yukon and neighbouring jurisdictions that support transboundary stewardship at the watershed scale.