Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I don't know much about the mining industry. It is only in recent years that the aboriginal people of this particular jurisdiction have been involved. In the past, we were only involved as people interested in training and job creation. Mr. Speaker, I would like to send a message to this particular government and to the Government of Canada that whatever the mining industry and government propose to do in the area of mining, that all should be sensitive to the lands that are used by native people in each and every region in this country. We have Nunavut; and in Nunavut, different Inuit regional groups. Likewise, we have different claimant groups who are either proposing to claim or have already claimed a piece of land in this area.

We talk about policies of this government and we have talked about the policies of our counterpart, the federal government. I think the policy of regional organizations is equally important. In fact, Mr. Chairman, I think it is more important because these groups depend upon the land for their survival. That strong message should be sent, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as I mentioned earlier, at one point in time, aboriginal groups were part of mining companies, but only as people interested in training and people who wanted to get jobs. But now little groups from the eastern Arctic and from the western Arctic are saying that we want to be full participants and full partners in the mining industry.

Many times in the past, I have heard the mining industry and government saying that aboriginal groups are very nervous about development in their areas. Mr. Chairman, I think the message that has been forthcoming from aboriginal groups in both the eastern and western Arctic is you should respect our culture and respect our way of life. We are in the process of developing land use plans and in some cases, we have already developed land use plans. We are saying that these groups should respect our culture and way of life and know that we are not only participants in the area of training and jobs. It should be "p" for partners. We want to be full partners, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I attended one of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association meetings in Cambridge Bay some time ago. I think one of the items of discussion was people in that area wanted to be full partners. I'm sure I'm also speaking for the people of the western area, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we know that mining is very important in this particular jurisdiction, especially in the area of Yellowknife. It is my understanding, Mr. Chairman, that Yellowknife was initially settled as a mining town. I think we have come a long way in the area of mining and we should be supportive of any initiative that comes out of the industry but, at the same time, be very sensitive to the environmental issues, especially where mining hasn't developed yet in the northern part of this jurisdiction. That's just a comment I wanted to make, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, very much.