Thank you, Mr. Bell. To the principle of the bill. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I won't take long, we'll have a lot of chance to discuss this bill in detail, but I will rise here today to offer my support for the principle of this legislation, to the principle of this bill.

As Members have said, this will recognize the self-government and land claim aspirations and dreams of the Tlicho people. I acknowledge and admit that four years ago when I was elected, I had very little knowledge about the dreams and aspirations of this First Nation. I can say that I know a heck of a lot more today than I did four years ago, and that's due in large part to the tireless efforts of Leon Lafferty who has been quite an advocate, I must say, for this legislation and for the Tlicho people over the last four years, and has continually been down the hall to discuss progress and their aspirations and dreams with me in my office, and try to encourage me to support the legislation and to work to understand the agreement.

It's very important legislation. It is, in fact, constitutional development. I hope that this legislature and our committee will give it the respect and the full consideration that I believe it deserves, and I look forward to that process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. To the principle of the bill. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, support the principle of the bill. I think as the Member for Mackenzie Delta has pointed out, this represents years of work and a significant amount of effort and undertaking by the Tlicho. I understand it to be the first agreement of its kind, bringing claims and self-government together.

I have to say that I haven't had much time to examine the bill, so I do look forward to having some time to have a detailed look at it. But from what I do know of the bill so far, Mr. Speaker, it probably changes the face of governance in the North. In many ways it might have been de facto by constitution making.

One thing I would like to do is compliment the Tlicho on their effort to make this agreement accessible. They've certainly raised the bar when it comes to making a complex legal document like the agreement available in plain language, and I would encourage my constituents to make sure that they have an opportunity to have a look at these documents. I look forward to discussing this bill with Members of committee and hopefully members of the public as it proceeds through the House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. To the principle of the bill. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the principle of the Tlicho land claims and self-government agreement is a good one. For years aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories and across Canada have been working to negotiate, along with their claims, self-government. Being that the principle is a good one, Mr. Speaker, is one thing, but our duty as legislators in this House I find myself in a bit of a predicament here because I know the wishes of this government to bring this to fruition, to bring it back in this House to third reading and pass it in the life of this government.

We know that dissolution happens on the 24th of October, and we're done. Mr. Speaker, we need to ask ourselves as legislators for all people in the Northwest Territories if the process we're going to step into, which has already been brought forward by our Cabinet, they've endorsed this and moved this and moved it ahead and taken all the considerations and concerns of Members, and in their wisdom thought that this is a step that needs to happen.

Mr. Speaker, there are questions we have to ask ourselves, and not only ourselves but on behalf of the residents we represent when it comes to this act. I believe that now that it is kicked into the public realm after first reading, and now after second reading it will go to committee and the committee will have to decide now as to what are the best steps for this bill. We've heard a number of Members already say we should bring it back and conclude it in the life of this session. We know our session ends on the 10th, unless we decided as an Assembly to extend those sitting days beyond the 10th up until possibly midnight, I guess, on the 24th.

It is a piece of legislation that is very significant, Mr. Speaker. Government may put this out as a small piece of legislation. There only are a small number of clauses in this bill, and that's true, but they are very significant and mean much, as we've talked about earlier, about the development of this Northwest Territories, the development of the people in the Northwest Territories, and what it means. Every agreement signed to date, there has been no piece to it that included a self-government provision. So this is a very big piece of legislation on that principle of self-government in the Northwest Territories.

Yes, we've heard that the federal government and the territorial government, that's our Cabinet, has signed off on this. The federal government's Cabinet has signed off on this and the Tlicho people have signed off on this and ratified it. This step, Mr. Speaker, that we are now coming to as a Government of the Northwest Territories is our government's way of bringing ratification to this bill. Is it appropriate that we take this and move it through at the pace that is being requested? In many minds, that is a very serious potential and outcome of this bill. Whether we have that debate amongst committee on a public hearing process, whether it's in the communities or have a very public debate in this House in Committee of the Whole, I think we have to give a full degree of attention to this bill and what it means to residents of the Northwest Territories. Once this is ratified, that means every agreement that has been signed to date, whether it was a self-government process or not or just a land claims process, those claims are going to have to have a clause in them that says anything given to one group, we shall benefit from as well. I know that's in the Inuvialuit one, that's in the Gwich'in one, and I'm sure that's in the Sahtu one.

As well, one has to say as a government, in our wisdom are we able to proceed to this stage and bring real effect to this bill, or is it a symbolic gesture, Mr. Speaker? I think as legislators we have to be sure that what we are doing is the right thing, not just for the sake of symbolism, but for bringing real legislation into this House and bringing it forward.

So, Mr. Speaker, in principle, it is a good bill. It will change the Government of the Northwest Territories and evolve to the next step, and we know there are many other claims in that process. I come from an area, the Beaufort-Delta, that is working on something in the area of self-government, as well, Mr. Speaker. So it is important that we deal with this as legislators in an open and transparent way. The residents of the Northwest Territories expect accountability from this government, and making sure that what we do is in the best interest of all people in the Northwest Territories. I know we'd like to do this and do it quickly for the benefit of the Tlicho people, and that's a very plausible thing. We need to look at that and see that in the light that it should be in. But, Mr. Speaker, I have a duty as a Member of the Legislative Assembly to all residents that I represent from my constituency, and until we have that public debate on this to the provisions of this and what it actually means...For example, what does clause 4 mean to the Government of the Northwest Territories, to the people of the Northwest Territories that I represent?

With that, Mr. Speaker, I would encourage that we get it to the public process. Committee, at this point, will have to decide if it's an on-the-road campaign in the sense of taking it out, or if we decide to bring it to this House for a review in Committee of the Whole. We must all be ready for the next stage to do due diligence. It's only what's expected of us by residents.

So in principle it's a good bill, and I would support getting this to the next stage, but I would have some serious questions that I hope the Cabinet, the Minister sponsoring this would have the appropriate answers as we go through that public process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. To the principle of the bill. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Mr. Speaker, it's a great honour today to speak on the Tlicho agreement. It has been some 20 years of negotiations to the tune of $28 million being expended on these negotiations, which the Tlicho people will have to pay back. I think as a people in the Northwest Territories who have seen the development of land claims, the political process in the Northwest Territories, it has been a long, drawn out process. For people to say they weren't aware of negotiations or not aware of what's in the Tlicho agreement, I find it totally unreasonable to realize that negotiations have been going on for this long and no one knows what's in it.

I've been involved in negotiations of the Dene/Metis claims negotiations process and then also the Gwich'in agreement and the Sahtu agreement. The most cumbersome group of people to negotiate with is the Government of the Northwest Territories. The most challenging issues that you have at the negotiating table are with the Government of the Northwest Territories negotiators. You have to negotiate with the federal government and the Government of the Northwest Territories and all the other people out there. I think for people to sit here and say that we need more time, we've had 20 years. We've spent almost $30 million on negotiating the Tlicho agreement.

The same thing applied to the Inuvialuit, the Gwich'in, the Sahtu and now with the Tlicho agreement. I've spend going on eight years in this House, always bringing the Gwich'in land claim agreement with me because there are a lot of elements of this agreement which haven't even been implemented, and it's over 10 years since the Gwich'in agreement was negotiated. A simple thing like amendments to the Wildlife Act; we've served four years and this has been one of our issues and it hasn't been dealt with. We have establishment of protected areas in this agreement such as territorial parks. It's almost 10 years since these parks were established. It has taken so long to implement our land claim agreement it's pathetic. Yet people say well, they're getting all these things. You get a land claim agreement, but it doesn't mean anything unless it gets legislative assent.

I think that's what the Tlicho agreement is asking for us to do here today. As legislators we have a responsibility to uphold our commitments to First Nations people that have taken the time to negotiate their agreement and also have taken the time to make that expenditure, and negotiations are a two-way street. The federal government has their positions, the GNWT has their positions, and the First Nations people have their positions. But at the end of it all, we have an agreement that basically has been signed by the Prime Minister of Canada, the Government of the Northwest Territories and the First Nations people.

It has been televised across the country. I would like to see this agreement given assent in this House during the sitting of this legislature. If people want to have a full debate, we can debate it on the floor of this House through Committee of the Whole and have it televised across the country so every community, every person in our community can see what the questions are, what the issues are, and as Members of this Legislature standing up to face your predictions and exactly what you stand for. If you have problems with an issue, let's do it on the floor of this House. With that, Mr. Speaker, I fully support the Tlicho agreement and I will encourage Members to also support the enactment of this agreement by bringing forward the legislation that's in front of us and passing it in the Chamber of this House as soon as possible.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. To the principle of the bill. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you Mr. Braden. To the principle of the bill. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I, too, stand here to indicate that I will be supporting this bill. It is the next step, Mr. Speaker, in what has really become a proud history legacy of northern Canadians and Canada as a whole that has seen land claim and self-government process events over time. In most of my life here in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker, and some nine or ten years in the Yukon, I have lived through the evolution of the whole notion that aboriginal people deserve to have these things.

It really is a matter of restoring what they had and how they lived and went about making their own decisions before the arrival, of course, of European culture. The acceptance of land claims and self-government is really becoming part of the North's psyche. It is part of our environment, it is part of how we live, how we work with each other and, very much, Mr. Speaker, it is part of the way we are looking forward in planning for the future. We cannot do these things without factoring in the significance of land claims and self-government. That is why we are here as legislators; to see this through and to be the eyes and the ears and the hearts of our constituents and to lead and guide the laws and programs through to completion.

As my colleague, Mr. Delorey, said he looks forward to seeing this through and to the broadest and fullest possible inclusion as our process and our rules have it, that this is given the fullness of time and exposure to all people of the North to have a look at these laws. To see that they are indeed the right thing to do, see that they meet the expectations and merit the respect that we bring to them, Mr. Speaker. I want to say again that I stand in full support of this bill and look forward to the public discourse and the passage of it in due course. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you Mr. Delorey. To the principle of the bill. The honourable Member for the Great Slave, Mr. Braden.