Mr. Chairman, on the issue of representation in the House of Commons for a proposed Nunavut territory, that was not included in this Consensus Report. Again, what we were trying for was a generic application, that each territory of Canada would be allocated at least one Member in the House of Commons. Right now, for instance, the Yukon is guaranteed one, the Northwest Territories is allocated two. So, it is our hope in the House of Commons, that simply we just split that at the time division happens.
On the question about Nunavut representation in the Reform Senate, as I tried to explain earlier to Ms. Mike, the understanding in the course of negotiations was that the legal text would simply say something generic, that each territory of Canada would be guaranteed at least one Senate seat. This was right up until it was understood politically and at the officials level, I do not know what day, but during the Charlottetown discussions, upstairs the Premiers were, our Premier was, locked into a meeting with the Prime Minister and the Premiers of the provinces, the territories, and the aboriginal leaders. They were finishing off discussions. In another room, officials were working on wording and legal text.
In the course of those meetings, some officials launched into saying the legal text has to be specific for each jurisdiction. The understanding that we had that it would be generic, is now one of the options, it is no longer the only option. It is our view that we will continue to try to get legal wording that will reflect that, and if not, to have a specific legal wording that would say, in the event that a Nunavut territory is created, that a Nunavut territory would also be guaranteed one Senate seat.
That is where it is. The discussions are carrying on right now by officials. They will continue even into the weekend. That is one of our objectives. I should note, as well, that the federal government had agreed with the provinces that the question of aboriginal representation in the Senate, which would be above and beyond what is presently allocated, to the federal government and the provinces will be discussed, and they will try to finalize that during October/November.
There again, the understanding is some of those Senators will be possibly allocated to represent Inuit and aside from the Northwest Territories, northern Quebec, and Labrador, there is no other jurisdictions that would be asking for representation there. I think we have done well in it, as I say, it would have been preferable if we had tied it down. We thought it was, and we keep working on it. Thank you.