Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the present arrangement is through the GNWT policy. This policy was in place for some years now and core funding has been provided to the Metis Nations in the past and it is a policy that we are reviewing at the present time. Thank you.

Thank you. Aboriginal Affairs. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am glad to hear that the policy is being reviewed because I know the federal government provides funding to band councils and it does not matter if the band council belongs to the Dene Nation or to the Assembly of First Nations or to regional organizations or any such criteria. I would like to know if the Minister has any information on why this policy was implemented this way. Does the GNWT feel that a local's responsibility ceases to exist if it removes itself from the Metis Nation?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the present policy has been in existence for some time now and when this particular funding arrangement was first put into place by the previous governments, all the Metis locals were part of the Metis Nation organization. There were no independent Metis locals involved. Over the years, we understand there has been some changes in that arrangement and there are some Metis locals that are independent from the Metis Nation. Coming into this ministry here we realize there is a problem. At first we thought it was more of an internal problem and we did not want to come between any groups but more and more we realize that we have to take a real close look at the existing policy and do some consultation to see what type of arrangements would be the best type of arrangements to provide this type of funding. The funding is in place there because the band councils get federal government funding as core funding to run their own band councils, First Nation organizations. In the meantime, the Metis locals do not get that funding from the feds and instead this government is providing core funding arrangements with the Metis Nation. Thank you.

Thank you. Aboriginal Affairs. Total operations and maintenance is $2,377,000. Mr. Steen.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in some cases it is the band councils, where the municipal councils are carrying out the services for the communities and the municipalities. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Steen.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in the communities that I am aware of, the band councils provide community services in smaller communities where there is a chief and band council. In this case, to run for chief and band council you usually have to be a band member to run for chief and band council positions. In cases of providing municipality services, there are arrangements made with this government through the Municipal and Community Affairs department to provide the municipal services. It is on a contract basis. I just want to add in these cases the small communities do not get the same level of funding as if they were incorporated into a hamlet and so forth. But if the Member could maybe clarify his question, perhaps I could answer more clearly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Steen, would like to clarify the question? Mr. Steen.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in some of the communities, through the municipal and community affairs arrangements, there are some band councils that are chartered communities, where they have combined band councils into a public government system at the local level. In these cases there are non-band members such as in Good Hope and I think, Deline, which became charter communities. There are a few of them, under the Municipal and Community Affairs Department, that have made arrangements with these communities so that they become something other than the chief and band council situation where there are other than band councils voting for different types of arrangements in the communities for providing services. But, in the communities where the chief and band councils are the only community government, in most cases, these communities are very small and a large majority of the people in these communities are band members, but there are some non-band members in these communities. Again, this is an area where the reality of the day is that that is the kind of arrangements that they have.

I think that the government has made attempts in the past in the communities like Wrigley, for example, where they have been approached by MACA to maybe consider other arrangements like charter communities, but it is really up to the people in communities to decide on how they want to govern themselves. Perhaps, the Member has other questions than this one here. I will try to clarify it. Thank you.

Thank you. Aboriginal Affairs. Mr. Steen.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I realize that this type of situation is a reality in some of the small communities. It goes back to the treaties that were signed back in 1899 in Treaty 8, and 1921 in Treaty 11 situation there. Over the years, as things evolve and communities get bigger and there is infrastructure put into the communities by this government, that whole area has not been resolved. There are some communities that have resolved it themselves. I used the example of Fort Good Hope, Deline, I think in Wha Ti, and other communities have been able to look at combining the chief and band council system at the community level, and making an arrangement with the public government system for voting. So, that people who are not band members may be involved at the municipal level in elections and voting, like you say. But, there are some communities where that has not been done yet. In the situations, perhaps in my constituency, where we have about four communities where there is chief and band council, It is really up to them and the federal government to start talking about land claims and self-government arrangements. This government here supports land claims policy and we support the inherent rights of self-government that some of the communities are pursuing. That is one way of doing it. I think that gone are the days where we go into the communities and impose a different system on the people. I think that we have gone away from that.

About the only solution I see here is that the communities that want to get involved in land claims, they should be supported and encouraged. If they want to start talking about the inherent right to self-government, how they would govern themselves in the small communities, then, that is a direction that we should support and we should see if we could move that discussion along. In the meantime, we are going to be remaining in the same situation. The honourable Member asked what this ministry is going to do about it. We support the attempts by the different aboriginal groups to go out and get involved in land claims and discussion. The Dogrib are involved into land claims discussion at the same time. They are doing self-government talks. The federal government does not have a mandate for their negotiators yet, but they are attempting to go in that direction. Through that negotiation system, we are going to see how the local government is going to be run. The same thing with the Beaufort Delta. The Gwich'in Inuvialuits are going to be talking about the self-government arrangements and that is dealing at the community and regional level as well.

The Sahtu are beginning to do talks with self-government. Treaty 8, they are getting to talk about the land claims and which way they are going to go. Fort Smith, Salt River First Nation, they are pursuing a reserve type of arrangement. So, it is really the initiative of the different First Nations and the Metis, as well, to start talking with the feds and ourselves on what kind of arrangements they are going to make. So, this is how we, in the ministry, are getting involved.

In the Deh Cho, before Christmas, they have taken the position where they want to start talking with the federal government on the inherent right to self-government. The federal government has to respond to that yet. I have encouraged the federal Minister at the meeting on Friday to try to get a response to the Deh Cho as quickly as possible. Better sooner than later.

So, this is the way that this ministry is trying to encourage and move the discussions along with the First Nations and Metis. Again, in this type of arrangement, what kind of municipal services are provided at the community level, what kind of voting is going on at the community level, the Municipal and Community Affairs is responsible for providing the funding for municipal services on a contractual basis. But this ministry here we are trying to move the land claims talks and the self-government talks along. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Aboriginal Affairs. Mr. Steen.