Mr. Chairman, the approach we have indicated to the communities we have communicated and met with is that we are going to try to lay out everything that the government does in terms of programs and services for communities to consider. Whether or not they are practical for communities to take on or whether it is possible for them to have the capability to take these on would be decided through the course of their looking at it. We are not trying to set the stage in deciding what communities can or cannot do. What we have indicated is that we will lay it all out, and the communities can make these decisions. The communities will decide what they are interested in, and under which terms and conditions they will be willing to assume any work that the territorial government does now, as well as the type of agreements they may want.

It is very clear in this report that the idea is to give more support to the communities so that they can develop the capability and strength to assume much more responsibility and authority. It is not to transfer and reduce resources and costs. I want Members to know that we have said we are willing to start meeting with communities now to discuss the general intent and give them some examples of what they can assume. We can talk with them about how aboriginal self-government may be seen as part of this scenario. The process will slowly develop from there. Communities will let us know what it is they want, and how they want to get this process under way.

We have set certain target dates. We have said that we hope the first transfer agreements come into effect by March 1994. Other than that, we do not have a document that lays out the process and items in detail. We indicated to the communities that we are working on this. As soon as this document is available, we will commence in-depth discussions. Thank you.