Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government has not finalized the policy on self-government, including taking a position on what should be the purpose and the scope of regional government institutions. Government will await the results of the Forum '96 conference before it formulates any self-government policies. When we met with the Aboriginal Summit -- I believe it was last month -- they raised that concern at that time, that we shouldn't be developing policies without their input on aboriginal self government or regional government. So we are going to wait and work with them leading up to that forum.

There are some sources we can look at for guidance in getting to that end result, Mr. Speaker. The general consensus from the CDSC constitutional conference in 1995 concluded that the government must be the basis of any new structure. The community must be a basis of any new structure of government. All four levels of government --community, aboriginal, regional and central --are necessary. There is a need for a central government that is community driven. Communities should have the power to form regional and district governments. While the primary focus of self government will be shifting the power to the communities, there will clearly be a role for regional institutions, particularly suggesting that certain decisions should be made and programs and services delivered at a regional level. I am confident that self-government negotiations will determine the appropriate division of governmental authority and responsibility within the regions. With that, thank you, Mr. Speaker.