Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would
like to present the interim report of the special committee on constitutional reform. The special committee on constitutional reform was established to review federal, provincial, territorial and aboriginal proposals for constitutional reform and to make recommendations to the Legislative Assembly on national constitutional matters. On behalf of the special committee I would like to table our interim report to the Legislative Assembly. The report sets out five major issues which require close monitoring by the special committee and recommends objectives and principles to be pursued by the Government of the Northwest Territories in the current round of multilateral discussions.
While all proposed constitutional amendments will be monitored, five areas are particularly important to the Northwest Territories. Those five areas are:
1) territorial participation in all multilateral negotiations;
2) constitutional recognition of an inherent right to. aboriginal self-government;
3) the effects of the constitutional amending formula on the Territories;
4) the effects of the Canadian economic union proposals and the redistribution of federal and provincial responsibilities;
5) constitutional amendments relating to national institutions.
The interim report, Mr. Speaker, concludes with the following recommendations for the territorial role in the multilateral consultation process:
1) The Government of the Northwest Territories should ensure the participation of appropriate Ministers and officials throughout the multilateral consultation process.
2) Ministers and officials should, to the extent possible, ensure that the positions and principles outlined in this report are enunciated and that any draft legal text or consensus document is consistent with these principles and positions.
3) The Government of the Northwest Territories should report to the special committee and the Legislative Assembly on progress in multilateral consultations, as appropriate.
4) When a draft legal text of constitutional amendments has been made public, the Government of the Northwest Territories should table the draft text in this Assembly for consideration, together with such information and recommendations as may be appropriate.
5) The special committee should continue to monitor national constitutional reform issues and should develop and distribute, as soon as possible, a public information package relating to national constitutional reform.
Motion To Receive And Adopt Committee Report 9-12(2), Carried
Mr. Speaker, that concludes our report, and therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that the interim report of the special committee on constitutional reform be received by the Assembly and adopted.