Minister Lisa Dempster’s department has responded to concern’s raised in the AG report and the Opposition’s questions.

In a statement provided to VOCM News late Friday afternoon, The Office of Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation says it cooperated with the Office of the Auditor General and provided the AG with information on the role of the office in relation to Indigenous consultation on provincial permits required for Muskrat Falls.

The Deputy Minister was also examined under oath by the Office of the Auditor General according to the department.

The department says it also helped to “facilitate the formation of the Muskrat Falls Monitoring and Health Management Oversight Committee with the three Indigenous governments and organizations in Labrador”, to ensure that methylmercury levels were appropriately monitored, reported and acted upon.

The office says Minister Lisa Dempster was not the Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation during the period up to January of 2019, when Nalcor advised it was too late to proceed with wetland capping.