Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think this does not only affect my community, but in regard to the Department of Education, there are language and cultural specialists in most communities in the territories. It comes down to the question of salaries and benefits under the NWT Teachers Association collective agreement. I think it is important that we see where these individuals fit in regard to that agreement. Can the Minister tell me exactly do they fit within that collective agreement?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What I can tell the Member is that on the recently submitted budget by the Beaufort Delta District Education Council totalling $17.554 million for the region, there is $409,000 for aboriginal languages that is allocated by the DEC in consultation with the DEAs for the provision of aboriginal languages and support. Are the language and cultural specialists members of the NWTTA? Once again, I must confess I am not certain, but I will commit to check. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister also can check if the language and cultural specialists in regard to the teaching program that are a part of the school program curriculum, if there should be a compensation package in accordance to any collective agreement in regard to language specialists so that they can fall in line with other professionals in that field so they will be treated fairly and that the salaries and benefits they receive are basically comprehensive to other teachers in that field. Can the Minister check into that also? Thank you.

Yes, I will commit to checking that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister also commit to trying to have this dealt with before the start of the new school year, which is in a couple of months so that the education divisional boards and also the educational specialists that we have in our communities dealing with language and the cultural program can get some comfort in knowing where they stand with this government when they deliver their services to our students and our classroom? Can the Minister commit to having something available on this issue before the beginning of the school year?

I will commit to providing this information prior to the end of this session so that my colleague will have a chance to review the information and ask any further questions that he may have in regards to what I will be able to provide. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask some questions of Mr. Kakfwi in regards to the mineral oil and gas development the territory. This morning he made a statement in that regard, and I also responded. I had a statement prepared in that regard. My question for the Minister would relate to his comments that he is forming a deputy ministers' committee to identify issues and prepare recommendations relating to the management of MacKenzie Valley Development. I feel that we need to go a lot further than that, and need to start investing money so that the communities start benefiting from this. I see where we need to ensure that there is an aboriginal and northern corporate capacity developed.

I wonder if the Minister could tell me what kind of support he has from Cabinet that would lend to making this the number one priority for this government to address over the next several months so that we can start assisting the communities down the valley and start assisting the aboriginal groups to take advantage of the tremendous potential that is out there so that they can get some economic independence and job creation for themselves. I see areas here that we can provide assistance to facilitate infrastructure projects for the communities, accelerate geoscience activities and provide training and support. I am wondering if the Minister could tell me what kind of priority this government is placing on that particular area with respect to investment, money and resource-wise? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Cabinet is in support of the initiative that I have outlined earlier today. Cabinet is in support of developing an economic strategy in partnership with aboriginal peoples here in the Northwest Territories, along with industry and the business community. It is our view that we can best provide support to our partners and to aboriginal leaders by preparing to be as well-informed, organized and well scoped in our view and thinking, as we can be. This is what we are positioning ourselves to do. By getting our deputy ministers initially to work together through a committee, we want to be able to scope out the work and the activities, the opportunities and the potential for opportunities as interest starts to pick up.

As Members know, the federal government still controls all resource development in the Northwest Territories, but we have, as a government, become important players in deciding the pace and the terms and conditions under which development will happen. We have chosen clearly and explicitly to do that in partnership with aboriginal people. This is our way of indicating to aboriginal people that we want to make sure that they benefit from resource development and as a government, we will position ourselves so we are as well-informed and versed in defining the scope of activity early on as possible so we can all help each other decide if development should happen and, if so, under what terms and conditions and what resources will be required to make sure that we all benefit from that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are many problems to be overcome in terms of achieving development. As I mentioned earlier, there is the question of ensuring that there is aboriginal and northern corporate ability to get involved in such development. There is also the need to have training and education. But there is also the area of allowing the people of the territories to access those jobs in terms of transportation to and from the particular sites such as the mining development and so forth. I am wondering if the Minster and the Cabinet has discussed a list of areas that this committee of deputy ministers should look at, and I just made reference to several of them. Could the Minister tell me if they have a list that they have passed on to the deputy ministers? Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Minister. There is work such as the Member has indicated that is required, it has begun and actually does exist. Thank you.

Could the Minister also tell me if Cabinet has discussed some sort of priority in terms of financial input or assistance towards these projects to assist both the deputy minister committee, but also community groups to provide some input? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, we have not had extensive details or discussions at the Cabinet level, only that we are indicating that we see the enormous potential for benefits to the North if we move properly, if we move in partnership with our northern peoples and set ourselves up to make sure that we can take advantage of opportunities. At this stage, we will be working with aboriginal groups to let them know of the enormous potential for development activity in the oil and gas sector and find ways to engage that interest and make sure that benefits happen to them. It will be done perhaps in tandem with the development of an economic strategy. Thank you.