Thank you. Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe the Yellowknives Band has the right to select lands in their traditionally-used area. My understanding is that's how land claims processes proceed. You have to have the agreement of your neighbours in order to select land so if Treaty 11 is selecting land in the Yellowknives Band's area then they should have the agreement of the Yellowknives Band and vice versa.

I was surprised that it came right around Yellowknife. I didn't know that until Roy told me that. I knew that there was something from Treaty 8 and Treaty 11 about the boundaries on the north shore of Great Slave Lake that people had a problem with but my understanding is that Treaty 11 and Treaty 8 groups were sitting down and working that problem out in a sensible way and working together to solve their boundary dispute.

My understanding also is that the federal government bases land claims on traditional use and people were documenting their traditional use so they were going to deal with it fairly amongst themselves. Whatever we can do as a government we should try to support them to do that amongst themselves. Thank you.

Thank you. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you. Your third question, Mr. Erasmus.

My third question is with respect to treaty hunting rights. Last year, an elder from the Yellowknives Dene Band was charged with shooting a caribou within a no- shooting corridor along the Ingraham Trail. The elder was successful in his defence; he was found not guilty based on his treaty right to hunt. Now the Department of Justice seems to be in the process of appealing this case. I would like to have the views of both candidates on this. Thank you.

Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you. Just to caution the Members with regard to sub judice convention. There are processes in place with regard to the courts dealing with an issue and it cannot be brought up in the House. I want to mention this to the Members, to exercise caution when you are dealing with matters that are in the courts. Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am aware of this case. It was brought up to me by people in my riding as well. This elder that was charged for hunting on the Ingraham Trail and he had won his case and the government was appealing it. We, as elected leaders, cannot interfere in the justice system. We should never do that. That does not mean that we always have to agree with what the justice system says or does but we cannot interfere in the justice system.

When this elder first went to court it was my understanding that he also applied to our government for assistance for his defence and Mr. Kakfwi did assist him by paying some of his defense costs. We can do that because we have a program for that, the aboriginal rights program, so we did help. him to defend himself. If the Justice Department decides to appeal and takes this gentlemen back to court then possibly he can apply for help again from this government. However, we cannot interfere in the justice system. Thank you.

Thank you. Your final question, Mr. Erasmus.

My final question involves education. understand that only five per cent of aboriginal students complete grade 12 in the Northwest Territories and that overall only 25 percent of students receive their grade 12 diploma. I would like to know the views of both candidates on how they would propose to increase the success rate of the students.

Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Like I said earlier today in my speech, I believe that there is far too much bureaucracy involved. We have adequate funding; $250 million a year is what we are spending on the education system. That seems like a lot of money to me to be spending on an education system without getting results. We have to work with our communities. We have to work with our teachers at the community level to get the children through school. If you elect me as your Premier, one of the priorities that we should seriously think of setting is taking a serious look at the educational system and what the problems are with it. How come we have such a drop-out rate? Not even talking about getting our children through grade 12, we can't even get them out of grade 6 in some of our communities. What is the problem? I think that has to be addressed. I don't have all the answers, I know that for sure, but one thing I know is that we have to address that problem because it is like blowing money into the wind unless you start getting some successes. Thank you.

Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you. Mr. Ootes.

Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Like I have said many times today, we have to find a way to get the dollar from this level to the community level in the most effective way with the least amount of bureaucracy. I believe that, and I believe that strongly.

We also have to treat our employees with respect. Whatever we have to do in the end, it has to be done respectfully. I have heard, like Jane has heard, from people in the South Slave region that they would rather take a percentage cut in their wages than cut the civil service jobs; lay-offs.

But we have to look at all those avenues for the simple reason that right now, as I understand it, we are spending 45 cents on the dollar on administration. Can we afford 45 cents on the dollar to administer the programs? We have to take a serious look at that as Members of this Legislative Assembly. I don't think we can afford that any longer. We have to look at all the other things as in a big picture, then set the priorities and go out and do it, and we have to work with our civil service to do it. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Oates.