(Translation) Mr. Speaker, yesterday we had a meeting with a number of people, and I would like to say something about it. Mr. Antoine had questioned me about it. When we first established this committee there was just a certain number of people that were sitting on it, there was Roger Gruben from the I.T.C.; and the Dene Nation, Bill Erasmus as representative; Gary Bohnet from the Metis Association; a Member from the M.L.A.'s; and a Member from the Ministers.

The people that were sitting on the board were aboriginal people, there were people from up the Beaufort Sea, from the Metis Association and from the Dene Nation. If we were to have self-government, how would we handle governing ourselves? Further into these discussions the Gwich'in have decided that they would like to have their own self-government, and no longer be included with the Dene Nation. They would like to have their own representation from amongst their own people. So, it was agreed upon.

Not long after that, the Sahtu region decided that they wanted to have their own representation for their own self-government system. They wanted to have their own representative from their own region. So, they were included within the group. Since this spring, we have not had meetings together, so, yesterday when we were finished here, we had a meeting at 6:00 p.m. When we all gathered together the Dogrib Nation also joined in, and they also said that they wanted to have their own representation.

So, they are now included with their own representatives to speak on their own behalf. As you may know now the Dene Nation and Metis Association are not fully representing the whole western Arctic. The Gwich'in have their own board, the Dogrib have their own board, and the Sahtu region have their own board. Yesterday, when we had this discussion the Dogrib delegation came in, said that they would also like to be included with this committee, and to have their own representation.

Also, the Chipewyan from Fort Smith, Fort Resolution and other communities of Chipewyan speaking people have not said anything to date, so we think that they wanted to be represented under the Dene Nation, and the Chiefs all got together, they were from the Gwich'in nation, and from the Sahtu region. They were interested in finding out what was being discussed, they just came more as observers, just to see what was being discussed in the meeting. As Jim was saying, for the Deh Cho region, there are a lot of communities, the chiefs also want to represent their own people, speak on their behalf, and I am not one to speak for them, but if they all feel that they would like to represent their own people in that, I think that this will work out well, if it is agreed upon.