Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act is a federal act that has gone through the federal process. The government as a whole, the government of the day, was involved in that, but really it was the initiative of the federal government to put this legislation in place.
Our role here in the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs is to coordinate this government's approach at the different land claim tables. What happened in the past, the act is in place, they have implemented the act. I think the act provides for different representatives from different regions to be on the board. I know that where I am from in the Deh Cho there is a provision that there could be a Deh Cho representative on the board, but they have not chosen to go there yet. But there is the provision for them to have representation on the board like all the other regions in the North. I am not too sure what provisions are in there for representation from the Akaitcho to be on that board, but I am sure there is something to put somebody from the Akaitcho on that board. I am not too familiar with the whole board structure and so forth, but I am sure there is that provision there.
We are at the claims table because the different aboriginal governments, groups and organizations see themselves in their own traditional areas, and they want to negotiate land resources and they want to negotiate their own governance in their own areas, so they have made application to the federal government. The federal government has accepted their application to negotiate, and that is how the claims process is taking place. This is where we say that the First Nations want to negotiate their own lands and their own resources and their own governance on it, so at the end of this whole process I would assume that they would want to do that so that they would control their own destiny and their own lives, and they want to have a say on what happens on their own land. They would benefit from it.
That is my understanding of why First Nations would want to go through the whole process of sitting down and negotiating the process. I am sure that is what the intention of the Akaitcho First Nation government is. That is why we are saying that we are there to negotiate what eventually would be good for the First Nations. Thank you.