Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to talk about an aboriginal joint venture. Mr. Speaker, in the last couple of weeks I have heard lots about diamonds and I have listened with interest. You will recall that last year, I asked several questions about a diamond sorting and valuation facility and made statements that sorting and valuation should be done in Yellowknife. I am glad to see that all the Members agree that it is a worthwhile cause. Since last year, I have taken upon myself to learn more about diamond sorting and valuation. I have talked to people, I read up on it, and recently, I took a trip to Antwerp from London with other MLAs. I saw first hand that you do not need a degree or even a high school diploma to work in a diamond industry. On the contrary, it seemed as though most sorters, polishers, cutters that we saw had poor education. Mr. Speaker, we have artists of all sorts in the North. They sew with beads, silk, and moosehair. We have carvers. We have international acclaimed painters. It is easy to see that people up in the north could do sorting, policing or even cutting with enough training. Since coming back from Antwerp, I have participated in putting together a joint venture, an aboriginal joint venture between the aboriginal birthright groups in the diamond area. I say the birthright groups because they are the people of aboriginal title and other rights in the diamond area, and that is why the federal government insisted that BHP negotiate impact benefit agreements with them.
The joint venture consists of the Dogrib Nation, the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and the Kitikmeot Inuit. The aboriginal joint venture recently sent a letter to the DIAND Minister and the Government of the Northwest Territories, Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. The joint venture has offered to provide a Yellowknife-based facility and services for diamond sorting and valuation to the governments and industry. They indicated this is to maximize economic opportunities for their shareholders and other residents of the Northwest Territories that diamond mining regulations should require the sorting and valuation of Northwest Territories' diamonds at a Northwest Territories community site. They have offered to construct a facility or facilities in Yellowknife that meets both government and industry layout and operational requirements. They would bring in additional expertise that would enable it to supply a range of quality technical services to governments and industry.
Mr. Speaker, the aboriginal joint venture's goal is to create infrastructure so the Northwest Territories diamonds can be processed in the Northwest Territories with a maximum of benefits for shareholders and other residents. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.