Mr. Speaker, efforts to determine the meaning of aboriginal self-government in the Northwest Territories will require the participation and co-operation of Dene, Metis, Inuvialuit, Inuit and non-aboriginal people, as well as the federal and territorial governments. These efforts will be essential if we are to find solutions which fulfill aboriginal peoples' right to self-government, yet are suitable and practical in our unique environment.

Past Legislative Assemblies took the position that aboriginal self-government in the North should be realized within the context of public government. By public government we simply mean a government that represents and serves all residents in the North, whether they be aboriginal or non-aboriginal. Our government continues to hold this view. While no one can predict with certainty what this concept will become in practice, the self-government framework agreement in the Gwich'in final claim agreement indicates the direction we think aboriginal self-government negotiations could take.

Clearly, aboriginal self-government within a public government system does not just mean participation in public government institutions. However, the overall structure of government, including aboriginal and public bodies, must be a practical and fiscally responsible system protecting aboriginal rights while, at the same time, respecting the rights and needs of all its citizens.

We have stated very clearly during this session that our government is committed to transferring significant levels of authority and resources to communities to enable them to set priorities and make the very best possible use of the moneys available. We are also prepared to make every effort to incorporate aspirations for aboriginal self-government into policies and a process for implementing community self-government.

There is no point in our pursuing an approach to community self-government that ignores aboriginal self-government only to find we have to revisit the entire process in the wake of a newly entrenched constitutional right. It makes far more sense for us to assume that such a right will be entrenched in the near future and to incorporate aspirations for aboriginal self-government into the development of the community transfer strategy which we will be presenting to the Legislative Assembly in March.

Last week, this House passed a motion to establish a special committee on constitutional reform to deal with the upcoming round of national constitutional discussions. One of the most important elements of the federal proposals for amending the Canadian Constitution is a call for the entrenchment of an aboriginal right to self-government. Many aboriginal groups argue strongly that the amendment should state aboriginal people have an inherent right to self-government, which is to say that the right pre-dates the Constitution of Canada and is not dependent upon the constitution for its validity.

The Government of the Northwest Territories accepts this view. Aboriginal peoples of the North practised self-government long before there was a country called Canada, and they continue to hold an aboriginal right to exercise self-government to this day. In this sense, aboriginal peoples have a natural or inherent right to self-government which must be recognized in the Constitution of Canada. However, a simple statement that aboriginal people have such a right still begs the question of exactly what that right means.

In the view of this government, an inherent right to self-government does not mean a sovereign, independent nation state. Aboriginal groups are nations within a nation, and aboriginal people are citizens of Canada. Nor do we see a right to self-government as meaning that each aboriginal group has the ability to determine unilaterally what powers it will exercise over which peoples living on which lands. We all live too close together and depend on each other too much for this approach to be practical.

It is a fairly straightforward proposition for this government and the Legislative Assembly to support the entrenching in the Canadian Constitution of an inherent aboriginal right to self-government. Our challenge will be to figure out how aboriginal self-government will be exercised here at home. I am confident that we can meet the test. Mahsi.

---Applause