Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  One of the aspects of the agreement is that as other devolution agreements are put in place—and the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are in stages of those same discussions—whatever resolution they are able to make with regard to revenue-sharing, then the Yukon would benefit from that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Stanton. Welcome, committee members, to Whitehorse and to Yukon. Welcome in particular as you begin your journey across northern Canada. Thank you for inviting me to speak with you again. I last spoke with you and met with the committee in April of this year, along with my colleagues from Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I was trying to meet the chairman's need for time.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think we're looking for more of a joint working committee with INAC. We're fully prepared. We've put forward our names—each territory has put forward names to establish the committee. We're ready to work together. I think the meetings will substantially reduce any uncertainty that might be out there as to how the regional economic development agency may form and how it would operate, and that's very important for us as well.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much for the question. We'd very much like to sit down with INAC officials and work together to get a good understanding of what the regional economic development agency would like to do, the funding it has available, the coordination it can provide, and how it will interact with each territory on an ongoing basis to establish the priorities that are there for each of us, and how the interaction of the first nations comes into that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I echo those comments. Climate change is likely to be a significant issue for us in the future. We are taking steps to address our own carbon footprint in Yukon, but also to understand that there will not be a solution to this problem without a significant southern strategy. We just recently established the Yukon Climate Change Research Centre of Excellence at Yukon College, as well as the Yukon Cold Climate Innovation Centre, to try to get an understanding of what is taking place, get the research questions answered, and also look for opportunities in the future that may present themselves as a result of changes as well as the adaptive costs that we might be facing.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think it is very positive. We see that it can be done in an extremely good fashion if it develops properly. I think we've heard the themes here. It needs to be a partnership. It needs to be flexible enough to address the different needs of the three territories at the same time.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. Just echoing the necessity for coordinating the efforts, we would like to see all of these initiatives that come forward coordinated through YESAA. If the federal government can help in that, we would appreciate that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No comment. It's very good.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It covers the whole gamut of the Yukon economy. I was at the Minto mine site the other day, where Selkirk First Nation--this takes place on their category A land--actually owns the land the development is on. They participate in the mining operation, and they are benefiting locally from the jobs that take place.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We understand that the allocation is $50 million over five years for the administration. I think you heard from the officials the other day that they will be managing a number of programs through the agency, which would include the community adjustment fund, the RInC program--the recreational program--and they would be looking at a SINED extension as well, the targeted investment program.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The YESAA--Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act--process is set up with first nations and the federal government. Since devolution in 2003, the ultimate authority rests with the Yukon government to proceed on land and water issues. So it's extremely important. It is a single-window approach.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I agree with the comment from the other territories. Again, it's about local control. We have a process in place, the YESAA process, which includes first nations, the Yukon government, and federal government departments, that establishes a review of the environmental and socio-economic impacts at a single setting.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Absolutely. In terms of the critical infrastructure, I'll just go down the road. Water and sewer for communities is high on our priority list, and we'll be addressing a lot of that with the federal infrastructure money that's coming out now. Housing is critical for most communities.