Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have the honour of recognizing three members from my riding of Nunakput; Robert Kuptana, who is attending the Community Development Certification Program at Aurora College here, from Holman; Karen Voudrach from Tuktoyaktuk; and my daughter, Shannon, from Tuktoyaktuk. Thank you.

-- Applause

Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it gives me a great honour to have a chance to recognize a member from Fort McPherson who is also taking the community development program. I would like at this time to thank Mr. Andre, who is from Fort McPherson, who has put a lot of work, effort and time and long days working on the Beaufort-Delta Self-Government Agreement-in-Principle. He is here with us today, so James, I would like to personally thank you and welcome to the House.

-- Applause

Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone who is here to observe your Legislative Assembly on this fine day. Thank you for coming. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to pick up on a line of questioning raised by Steve Nitah yesterday regarding some of the agreements with the aboriginal governments. Mr. Speaker, the Deh Cho First Nations, along with Canada and this government, signed an agreement, the Deh Cho First Nations Interim Measures Agreement, recently and I would like to ask the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development if that agreement is currently formally in place today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that agreement is clearly in place. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, it is not clear to me which department is responsible for implementing this agreement, so I would like to ask the Minister if he could confirm to me that Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development is the lead department regarding this agreement.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, the Interim Measures Agreement is a very broad document. The GNWT is responsible for honouring, respecting and implementing the various sections of it, so some sections of it do fit within the mandate of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development and those would be areas where we would take responsibility. With regard to forestry, for example, that is clearly an RWED responsibility and it is RWED's role to ensure that is honoured. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for that response. I would like to further question as to what type of resources are provided to the communities to deal with applications that are processed, as communities are required to provide a formal response and go through the consultation process. I would like to know what resources, what staff are available to them? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if there is, for example, a timber-cutting application received by RWED, then RWED has to notify the communities that are impacted that the application is there and to request whether or not they support it. We do not provide any set amount of dollars or any particular staff to assist the communities, but certainly we are there and we are available if they have any questions regarding any application. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am glad to hear that the Minister and this government has worked out a process as to consultation and the involvement of the communities regarding the application process.

I would like to ask the Minister if he could assure me and the people of the Deh Cho that no applications will be processed without the consent of the Deh Cho First Nations and the affected Deh Cho communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just for clarification, it is not really RWED that has set out the process for dealing with the Interim Measures Agreement. It is the Deh Cho people themselves. The process is laid out in the Interim Measures Agreement and in fact, in section 50 of that agreement, there is a provision that no forest management authorizations will be issued in the Deh Cho Territory without the support of the affected Deh Cho Nations. It goes on to say, however, that section 51 allows for certain exceptions.

We follow that very carefully and certainly honour that agreement. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.