Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Assuming that the paper is ready and the proper signatures are now on it, is the Minister planning to take it to Cabinet this week?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister had, on April 12th in this House, made a commitment that the policy would be tabled. Seeing as how this session is scheduled to end by next Thursday, will the Minister commit to tabling that policy by next Thursday?

Mr. Speaker, the members of the Constitutional Development Steering Committee have asked the federal government for an ongoing commitment of $1 million to continue the work to develop a constitution for the government of the western territory. The members of the Constitutional Development Steering Committee have asked the Government of the Northwest Territories to also commit an amount of $500,000 to the same process. This government has responded, committing an amount in that neighbourhood

and fully expecting that the federal government will very shortly come forward with the commitment for $1 million. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the federal government has been on record since 1981 as supporting the process that involves all people of the Northwest Territories in the constitutional development and the political future of the north. It has consistently supported and funded these processes. For the last few years, the federal government has again funded and supported this process. It has also been this government's position that we are partners with all the other aboriginal groups in this process. That is, we're not leading it, we're simply one member of a large team of people putting together our political future and our constitutional future in one process. The federal government is expected to continue to support this process, to believe in it -- at least the federal Minister has indicated that he supports the process, he supports the creation of a single territory, the creation of a public aboriginal government for all people of the Northwest Territories -- and we fully expect him, very shortly, to come up with the $1 million that is required to continue this process. We don't expect anything different.

If the support, for whatever reason, should not be forthcoming, then we have to ask whether the federal government has had a last-minute change of heart; whether they no longer support the creation of a single territory; whether they no longer support the creation of a public aboriginal government for all people of the territories; and whether they've had a change of heart that $1 million is not worth it, what the possibilities of the Constitutional Development Steering Committee holds for all people of Canada, let alone the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I never expect the federal government to be taking so long in coming forward with commitments. But as was said once recently, the present federal Minister has 100 fires going and he is having a hard time attending to them all and also having difficulty remembering why he started so many. So when he is going to focus his attention on this particular issue is anybody's guess. I hope he follows the good advice of his officials and takes a good, unbiased look at the record of support and commitment to this process by previous governments since 1981, both federal and territorial, and continue to do the right thing. Thank you.