Mr. Speaker, I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Steen on May 8th regarding application of negotiated contract policy outside Nunavut area.
In 1994-95, the Government of the Northwest Territories drafted a government-wide policy on negotiated contracts. However, Cabinet review of this policy was put on hold until consultation could take place with Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated regarding the government's obligations under article 24 of the Nunavut final agreement. Now that those consultations have been completed, the government policy on negotiated contracts will be completed and provided to Cabinet for review.
The negotiated contracts policy will reflect the requirements of all the settlement agreements in both East and West. It will also reflect my commitment to develop options to enhance aboriginal and local access to economic opportunity, not only in the Nunavut area, but throughout the Northwest Territories.
However, at the present time, and until those policies are complete, the 21-day notice period applies only to negotiated contracts for activity in the Nunavut settlement area. Thank you.