Mr. Chairman, of course, we would like to reach an agreement on the Northern Accord. It should be absolutely clear. In the previous government, the Minister responsible for this file spent close to $1 million working with the aboriginal groups over a period of a year and a half to try to reach an agreement. As I recall, at least 75 percent or more or the aboriginal groups were in agreement. There was substantive agreement, I thought, at that time, to proceed. The Minister of the day, decided not to proceed, simply because he knew the federal government would refuse to proceed on that basis. It was of little use for the Minister to stand up and say he was going to proceed even though there was not 100 percent consensus and still one or two groups opposing the Northern Accord at that time. Those are the dynamics of these negotiations. Even if the entire Legislature and Cabinet of the day had decided to proceed, we would have been refused at the other end. We have to keep that in mind. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, at the end of the day, the Premier is responsible for this particular file. If there is a question, it would probably be best put to the Premier. As I was saying, what we need the most is a positive supportive federal government, a federal government that would set some

reasonable terms and conditions for work to proceed on this file. So far it has been rather ambiguous and, therefore, kind of futile for us to continue working at it, at this time. It is not for lack of interest. Thank you.

The other factor is there is simply no time even if we wanted to get into negotiations to reach any tangible results before the end of 1999 or by April 1, 1999. At best, if we do this, start discussions I mean, we may be able to sign some sort of memorandum with the federal government to say how we are going to proceed with discussions on the Northern Accord, after April 1, 1999 with Nunavut and the Western Territory. This has been brought forward as a consideration but if Members know, there is a horrific amount of work to be done in so many areas preparing for division. The suggestion has simply been made to the federal Minister, where there has been no substantive response, as far as I know. Thank you.

Thank you. First of all there are trappers in the eastern Arctic, trappers in the Inuit communities that need assistance to get back to the business or get into the occupations of trapping. They should check with the renewable resource officers or the economic development officers. The department is very interested in working with trappers, people who want to get into trapping to make sure they are properly equipped. They have proper funding to get into it. There are grants, loans, Harvester Assistance Programs. There are a lot of programs available for trappers and harvesters and to people who want to get into it as a business. That would be my advice.

The issue of traps. It is true Canada has agreed to phase out leg hold traps. The old traps, we have to stop using them and get into using the new traps, the conibear traps. These, as far as I know, are not developed for use for larger animals but they are working on it. Research is continuing to be done.

His concern about carvers not being able to sell their carvings is work that needs to be ongoing. For instance, carvers need to be aware that people who buy their carvings are down south, southern Canada and United States. Certain types of carvings are more in demand than others. We have to do more work on marketing in the department. The Development Corporation has been working on that. If they require additional assistance because again, we support carvers, we want them to be able to make a living from it. The superintendents and local economic development officers are the people to see to make sure we can support the carvers.

In regard to intercommunity trade of caribou of wildlife meat, it is an excellent suggestion and certainly one we would work to support. There are a number of programs available that can be used. There is the Community Assistance Program, for instance, money can be given to local communities to go out and harvest caribou. We also provide money for communities to do organized hunts. We can find ways in which to help communities transport and get into the trade with other communities.