Mr. Chairman, I had said yesterday that because self-government negotiations is a new initiative that requires some focus and some clear mandates in order for it to be expedited, this government has suggested that we should come up with a clear mandate and a protocol, to be clear to the Members of this Legislature and the public, on what we see is our role and our mandate in how we will conduct ourselves in the course of self-government discussions and negotiations.
With that in mind, the Cabinet directed us to develop a draft mandate and protocol paper. We did that, the Cabinet approved a discussion paper for consultation purposes. We have gone to the Inuvialuit, the Gwich'in, the Sahtu, the Deh Cho, Treaty 8, Dogrib, and I think the Metis Nation to get their input as to whether or not this is a good idea and what they think of the draft paper.
We are presently getting feedback from the different groups. As I said yesterday, there are a couple of points: one, there is an uneasiness about the fact that the federal government itself does not have any clear policy, they don't have a self-government paper. Although they have committed in their red book of the Liberal Party to recognize and support the inherent right to self-government, there hasn't been a paper yet and we expect that this month. It looks like it is unclear at this time when the federal government will come forward with it. I would suspect that they may need more time before they are prepared and able to come forward with a good paper.
In the meantime, this government has elected to try to do the same. It has been our view that we are a required party to the negotiations because we are funded and mandated to serve the public in delivering certain programs and services. To leave us out of it will make the process very cumbersome, since the federal government will need to consult with us continuously in order to be able to expedite the negotiations. So we think the best way is for us to be involved.
As well, the federal government has insisted from the beginning that we should be involved. Having said that, I have taken the view that we should be involved. I feel that because I think, as a government, we can help the aboriginal groups to get many of the things that they want. Certainly our paper, in our view, is unique in Canada, the extent to which we are prepared to almost dismantle ourselves in face of the call for self-government by aboriginal people. We put this government on the table. That is done nowhere else in Canada. If the aboriginal groups are insistent and all of them insist that we shouldn't be party to the negotiations and that we should sit it out, we would give that serious consideration. At this time, we are just going through the consultations. It will be a few weeks yet before we put all the discussions together and have something definitive for Cabinet. Thank you.