Thank you, Mr. Handley. Fur marketing revolving fund, information item. Page 11-31, details of work performed on behalf of others. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, can the Minister tell us, regarding the different claimant groups, it says the funding is provided to the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development to undertake activities for which it is responsible for pursuant to the implementation plan. Can the Minister identify what areas you are responsible for?

Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Krutko.

The reason I ask the question because under the land claim agreement it makes reference to the government "shall". Shall means that they are responsible to do something, and yet there are a lot of sections of the agreement that the government has not done what it states in the land claim agreement, where you are taking responsibility. You talk about forest management - you mentioned that you have been in consultation with the renewable resource councils, but then there are different sections that talk about the government "shall consult" in those roles where it has to be done.

The reason that you add these weasel words to these different agreements is that there are ways of stating the commitment of a different group or government, that they have to do these things. The Government of the NWT shall consult with the Gwich'in Tribal Council prior to establishing any territorial parks. There are all these different sections under the agreement. I am just wondering, who in the department makes sure that these obligations are being followed by the government? Especially when it comes to the land claims agreement.

A good example is the Inuvialuit who signed their agreement in 1984. It was almost ten years before any of those sections were considered or put into effect. I am just wondering, can the Minister tell us exactly how are you living up to the obligations where it clearly states that the government shall do these things? Who is the one who follows that? Who is the one who makes sure you are following the responsibilities that you have in these different land claim agreements?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, to answer the first part of the question, the responsibility rests with me as a Minister. I delegate that to the deputy. In terms of how do we do it, we do it several ways, but first, let me say there is a tripartite implementation team, on which we have representation on each of the land claim agreements. It is primarily through that team. As well, we have meetings. The deputy has met and I, when I was there, met with the Gwich'in Tribal Council. I met with the renewable resource boards. If there is any concern about whether or not we are living up to our obligations, those are dealt with at that time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Regarding their commitments, there are also joint commitments that this government has with different organizations. I mentioned that there seems to be a lack of research done in different areas about harvest allocations; how the statistics are compiled, where I tried to get information on caribou species.

The only aboriginal group I could get information on was the Inuvialuit and the Innu people from the east, but very little on the Dene people of the Mackenzie Valley. Again, there is another commitment that says there is a joint commitment between the Gwich'in and the government, who have committed themselves to work in cooperation of compiling this research. I am wondering, how are you accumulating this information and where is it being stored at the present time?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, the money for wildlife research that fits under the land claim, in the case of the Gwich'in, goes to the Gwich'in Renewable Resources Board. They decide how it is spent. We do not have any direct responsibility for making those decisions. They are the board's. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Another area that I have a lot of concerns about are the economic chapters of the different agreements, where they clearly state that this government, especially the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, in regard to programs that this government administers - there is a preferential treatment with how these agreements will be enacted.

In the Inuvialuit agreement, there is a participation agreement with regard to how groups will be carrying out activities in the Inuvialuit settlement region. There are also the benefit agreements. In other agreements, there are references to the economic chapter, yet this government seems to be reneging on its responsibilities to ensure that the First Nation groups will have some preferences, especially in their settlement regions. When it comes to government contracts or government programs that are being administered by this government, they are not held in the light. There are different commitments in different agreements.

I would like to ask the Minister, what is he doing to improve those economic sections of those agreements so the aboriginal groups are being treated fairly, under those obligations that are in place?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. The Chair recognizes Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, the Inuvialuit agreement was signed in 1984, ten years or more before the others were signed. At that time, the agreement was that the department would provide a lot of services on behalf of the Inuvialuit people. That is why there is a large amount of money there. With the other later land claim agreements, the provision was that they would manage their own responsibilities in these areas through the wildlife boards. They have the money within their claim, so it does not appear here. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. We are on page 11-33, revenues, recoveries and transfer payments. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just in economic measures, I will read a section of the Gwich'in agreement, 10.1.4, it says:

"where government carries out public activities in the settlement area, which gives rise to employment or economic opportunities, the government elects to enter into contracts with respect to those activities."

Section 8 deals with the Government of Canada, but section B is for the Government of the NWT, which says:

"the Government of the NWT preferential contracting, policies, procedures, approaches, intended to maximize regional and northern local employment and business opportunities."

For me, that means that this government has an obligation to ensure those are achieved in some way, shape or form.

I am asking the Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, who has a say in how expenditures take place and how the different programs are administered, what is the department doing to improve the obligations they have in these agreements? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

As I said before, there is a tripartite implementation team that we are represented on. It deals with any issues in regard to interpretations within the land claims agreement, and any situations where we are not living up to our obligations. We rely on that joint agreement between the parties who signed the land claim agreement, to advise us if we are not living up to that, primarily through that committee. In addition to that, as a government, we have other policies. We have a Business Incentive Policy. We have northern preferences and so on that apply in these situations as well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.