Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to speak to the interim appropriation in regards to Aboriginal Affairs requesting additional negotiators and assistant negotiators. This is seeking additional negotiators for two of the claims that are going to be starting up. Yes, we agreed to work with all of the aboriginal groups and we want to be ready for the Akaitcho Territory once their framework agreement is finalized, and the Deh Cho First Nations once they have concluded their framework agreement.
We have to be ready for them, once they get into a position to negotiate. As soon as we do the Dogrib negotiations, because they were ready with their final agreement and have been negotiating for about four years, I know that they are going through a final agreement. We have met with negotiators, and the Dogribs have suggested that we find a way of perhaps speeding up some of the process. We have agreed that as the Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, I am available for our chief negotiator, who is Patrick Scott, to get in touch with me and inform me any time of the issues that have arisen at the table.
We have talked about it and asked for the negotiations at the table. The nature of negotiations is sometimes we, as the Government of the Northwest Territories and especially from the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, we normally send a chief negotiator and an assistant negotiator, and sometimes a policy analyst to go to the negotiating table.
If the subject matters discussed are dealing with legal issues, we have a lawyer from the Justice Department who is assigned to that file. You mentioned the fifth lawyer. Lawyers from the department, they come and they go. If they decide to leave, there is nothing we can do about asking them to stay. We have to get another lawyer in place.
Unfortunately, this is not efficient. We would like to have a dedicated lawyer that starts from the beginning and works to the end, but we have to use the Department of Justice lawyers to give us that legal advice. And then we have representatives from the different departments. I do not know who is down in Calgary from the other departments, but sometimes the nature of the department is that if the subject matter affects any of our departments, we make sure there are representatives from the different departments that go to these different negotiation sessions. Perhaps that is why there are the 11, I believe the Member mentioned, that represent the Government of the Northwest Territories at the session that he attended.
If the issues are federal matters and do not concern us, we just send one, two or three people. It all depends on the nature and the items that are discussed. I agree the Dogribs are into their final agreement. They are going to be going hard for ten days at a time, two weeks at a time. I am going to be available whenever the sessions are. I am being briefed by the negotiators and if need be, I will be a standby. I may even be able to attend some of the sessions. That is my plan for the next while, while we finalize the Dogrib final agreement. Thank you.