Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since Ms. Pat Thomas may not be with us, as she is retiring, I think we should preserve that seat that she has been sitting in for the last seven years, and put a statue of Ms. Thomas there.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, non-renewable resources provide the greatest opportunities to create new jobs and increased business opportunities, a stronger small business sector, a larger economic base, increased own-source revenues and increased economic self-sufficiency.

By taking advantage of these opportunities, we do not have to sacrifice the environment, our cultures or traditional lifestyles. Through responsible resource development, using modern technologies, effective regulatory mechanisms, and impact and benefit agreements with communities and aboriginal organizations, mineral development will provide a significant net benefit to the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister where is the government's policy on non-renewable resource development? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories has no jurisdiction in the non-renewable resource sector. It is still under the control and management of the federal government. To that extent, we have no legal means by which to enforce or impose policies. It has not been the practice of the past governments to develop policies where they have virtually no jurisdiction. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the statements I made earlier were originally made, word for word, by the Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development in the committee of the whole on May 14, 1996. Can the Minister summarize for me, I guess there has not been any progress, but has there been any work in trying to develop what we have under our authority in the Northwest Territories, under a non-renewable resource development policy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In fact, I think we have made some progress. The federal Minister, Mr. Robert Nault was here recently, publicly committing to moving the devolution file as expediently as possible, as well as the commitment to negotiate an agreement on revenue-sharing as expediently as possible. That is a commitment that we have long awaited. We are working now to set up an intergovernmental forum with the aboriginal governments, this government and the federal government as early as May so we can set an agenda that hopefully will include devolution and revenue-sharing, amongst other things.

We have developed an initiative that is near completion. It is an economic strategy for the Northwest Territories that is being drafted as we speak. This economic strategy will be released in the next month or so. It will speak to the things that we must consider, and that we have to take into account in moving our economic development along. We have been working for a number of years now, courting the interests of the oil and gas companies in the North. Not having jurisdiction in the area, but suggesting that there is merit in looking at renewing exploration activities in the Beaufort and Mackenzie Delta, the Sahtu and the Deh Cho.

We know full well that the aboriginal groups have been imposing a moratorium on oil and gas development in most of the Mackenzie Valley for the last 20 years. In spite of that, we have seen renewed activities in the Mackenzie Valley. We have helped to encourage the federal government to respect that and release lands for oil and gas companies to bid on. We have worked on the development of a policy on developing value-added industry with diamonds in the Northwest Territories.

So there has been some work done. We developed the Protected Areas Strategy, over a year ago, that speaks to setting aside and recognizing the lands and areas that aboriginal people in communities here in the North want to protect. These have been outlined, and are going to be implemented before major development starts to proceed here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister, in his address to the committee of the whole, emphasized the importance of reaching impact and benefit agreements with communities and aboriginal organizations. Further, there are regions that are still in land negotiations, but yet the government continues to issue permits in certain areas, sometimes against the wishes of those communities.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me how many impact and benefit agreements have been signed between this government, communities and aboriginal organizations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the Member is talking about the most recent process engaged in by aboriginal groups and this government then he would be referring to the application of Diavik, to begin construction of the mine. If that is what the Member is talking about, I believe some of the benefit agreements, I think there are two of them, have been signed off to date, with two or three yet to go. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question was how many agreements overall has this government signed between aboriginal governments, this government, and other land claim organizations. How many have we done in total?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member wants some details that I am unable to provide at this time, so I will provide the details to the Member in writing. Thank you.