Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, just about 30 years ago, the forerunner to today's Dene Nation, the Indian Brotherhood, was formed. The brotherhood was created to negotiate with the federal government the issue of land ownership and native self-government. Over the course of the next few years, position papers were developed, and in the early 1970s, a formal position paper was presented to the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs; at that time, the Honourable Warren Allmand. Mr. Allmand agreed with most of the positions that the Dene Nation had taken, especially with regard to native self-government consideration. Mr. Allmand was switched to another portfolio in the next Cabinet shuffle, and the Dene Nation had to start all over again.

The process continued through the rest of the 1970s and 1980s, until finally the Dene Nation had signed an agreement with the federal government in April of 1990.

Madam Speaker, during the ratification vote held in Dettah during the Dene National Assembly in July of 1990, the Deh Cho delegates felt they had no option but to reject the proposed final agreement. The major reasons, Madam Speaker, that the Deh Cho delegates rejected the proposed agreement was the federal government's insistence to tie the final agreement to the extinguishment of treaties and aboriginal rights previously negotiated.

Madam Speaker, the elders and leaders from the Deh Cho felt that the right to self-government was not something that could be left at the table. It is the basis for the goals and aspirations of the Dene in the Deh Cho region. Naturally, Madam Speaker, this left the doors open for each of the regions in the western territories to negotiate their own separate, comprehensive land claim agreements; something that nobody objected to.

The political reality of 1990 meant that there was no hope of the Conservative government changing its position on the extinguishment of treaty rights as a precondition of negotiating land claim settlements. It was decided, Madam Speaker, to await the results of the next federal election before the Deh Cho entered into a land selection process. It must be remembered, Madam Speaker, that self-government is not up for negotiation, as it is already a right under Treaty 11 and has been recognized by the federal government by virtue of the negotiated agreements...