Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, my question will be brief. I want to know if the Minister and his department have been considering options such as putting in place legislation for the exportation of diamonds?

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The federal government, as you know, has ownership and jurisdiction over minerals and they are now preparing amendments to the Canada and Mining Regulations. My view that this will hopefully lead to a clarification on what exactly Canada's position is in regard to a mining and production sale marketing of diamonds. The Government of the Northwest Territories does not have any means of passing legislation for the export of minerals. We are trying to engage the federal government in trying to clarify by what means they can take a position in regard to the diamond industry with BHP as to basically whether or not diamonds can be just taken out of the ground, and with a cursory review by the federal government, then flown out of the country for sale, for marketing or whether the Government of Canada will ask for a little more than that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would just like to recognize my two daughters up there, Meeka and Shannon.

--Applause.

Welcome to the Assembly. Any further questions, Mr. Steen? Thank you. The next person I have on the list is Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Mr. Kakfwi.

Madam Chair, when the federal government announced the terms and conditions under which they would be prepared to give a licence to BHP, the socio-economic agreement was the main instrument that they offered to provide benefits to people of the north in regard to the establishment of this mine, the construction of it and getting to operation of this mine. As a government, we raised the issue of once the diamonds are out of the ground, and they start to move towards the market, so to speak, what are the possible economic benefits that we could negotiate from that phase. The message from the federal government was that will be dealt with later. There are too many unknowns about that. So we have been waiting rather patiently, not entirely in the loop, while the federal government contemplated what the position should be. It is my view that the federal government has to come clear very soon about what is the position of the Canadian government in regard to the diamonds, once the rough diamonds are presentable by the producers. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Madam Chair. As a Minister I have become increasingly concerned that the federal government has yet to state a clear position to Canadians, to the public and certainly to this government on what its policy is in regard to diamonds. One of the things that need to be clarified, for instance, is in many African countries, they do ask that the rough diamonds be valuated, sorted for valuation purposes most of the time off-site and that some of the diamonds, not all of them, are available for sale in the

country. In some countries they also take some of the diamonds in kind, as royalty payments. This maximizes the economic benefits to the country and to the people in the vicinity. We are not exactly comfortable with the notion that perhaps there is a possibility that Canada may very well, for lack of attention and diligence in this issue, see Canadian diamonds, northern diamonds, flown direct to London and Antwerp. Rough diamonds that would then be sorted and sold in another country other than here. We have written to the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs and articulated that very concern and have asked if we can and we will meet with her on Monday. We will raise the concern and suggest some ways to remedy the situation if there is in fact no work being done to ensure that maximum economic benefits are exploited from the production of diamonds in this country. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We have received requests from the RCMP and the Armed Forces for us to consider that. At this time we have moved forward with some amendments to the Wildlife Act regulations, specific amendments to the Wildlife Act other than those we have done. Because of the workload demanded, the legislative agenda, that is sort of ahead of us; it does not appear possible to make any headway in changing the Wildlife Act itself. That was the assessment made by the department about a month ago when we last talked to the legislative division. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. The next person I have on the list is Mr. Rabesca.

Thank you, Mr. Rabesca. Mr. Kakfwi.