Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A very good question of self-government, which is virtually upon us. The first of its kind will probably be the Dogrib self-government arrangement. I am quite confident that we will eventually come to conclusion in their land claims and self-government talks. Once that happens, we will have to look at a Dogrib Community Government Act. The contents of what they negotiate will have to be considered in this Act, and how will it work with this government. That will be the basis of this working relationship in the four Dogrib communities. It will have a Dogrib community government, I understand. These are still under negotiation and we do not really know the final outcome of that. Certainly that is the question that it is going to go. We will have to work with the organization of the Northwest Territories Association of Municipalities. We attended their Annual General Meeting in Fort Simpson a few weeks ago. There is a lot of concern. There is a lot of concern by the NWTAM and the members of different communities. We will have to work with them on that. The departments will have to develop a good communication plan. Once the Dogrib agreement is finalized, we will have a better understanding at that time, but until that time, it is difficult to say exactly what the agreement is going to look like.
We have been communicating already. There have been a number of different meetings and workshops at different communities to try and explain the concept to our public. Generally, that has gone on pretty well.
Internally, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is involved with different departments to try and have an understanding of what self-government is and how it will affect our department and the municipalities that we work with.
I just wanted to talk a bit about your earlier comments, in looking at the shift in our approach to working with municipal governments from this department. I mentioned that there is going to be more of an advisory role in nurturing and guiding this type of approach, rather than control. I think that in the past, this department may have had a very controlling manner with the municipalities. Things were being developed and they evolved. We are anticipating changing our approach. Each community is different and in some municipalities, the elected mayor and council in municipalities are very accountable to their electors. The only form of accountability that we have with the municipalities is a yearly audited financial statement. That is the extent of our accountability. It is a type of control and accountability through the financial aspect of it. The political accountability to the electors is really up to each council to develop. That is the focus.
In a community where the mayor and council are elected, they should be accountable to the people who put them in there. I am not saying they are not, but that should be the focus. Of course, the financial accountability is very important, and the financial accountability should be to the people they represent in the communities. Yes, there is a shift in philosophy of approach of this department. We hope to change it through our approach, and work with the NWTAM and the standing committee. Hopefully, something positive comes out of that. Thank you.