Yes, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs' 2001-2002 main estimates for the committee's consideration.
The proposed budget will support the vision of this government in promoting strong partnerships with aboriginal, federal, provincial and territorial governments, and supporting aboriginal people to have greater self-determination over their social, cultural and political destiny. The intent of negotiations is to settle agreements that recognize and respect both the collective rights of aboriginal people and individual rights of all NWT residents.
The ministry's 2001-2002 proposed budget is $4,893,000 broken down as follows: $3,325,000 for compensation and benefits, $360,000 for grants and contributions, $1,178,000 for other expenses and $30,000 for amortization.
The Ministry does not collect any revenue and does not require capital funding. The Ministry has 34 positions. Additionally, the Ministry received $363,000 from Canada to fund three positions to coordinate and manage the implementation of settled land claims.
Mr. Chairman, these are exciting times in the Northwest Territories. After years of complex and difficult work by our negotiators, I have every hope that over the next several months we will reach significant benchmarks in several of our aboriginal rights negotiations.
This spring we expect to conclude negotiations on an agreement-in-principle with the Inuvialuit and Gwich'in on self-government in the Beaufort Delta region.
Also by spring, I expect Canada will conclude a memorandum of intent with the Salt River First Nation, setting out their intent to fulfill Canada's outstanding Treaty 8 obligations.
By this summer, we hope to have concluded negotiations and approved a final agreement with the Dogrib Treaty 11 Tribal Council on lands, resources and self-government. This will be the first such agreement negotiated in the NWT.
In my own constituency, I have already announced in this House that the Deh Cho leadership has approved a negotiation framework agreement and an interim measures agreement. These agreements are being reviewed by the federal and territorial governments. Once signed, they will open the way to formal negotiation with the Deh Cho First Nations on their land, resources and governance rights.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my opening remarks. I would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have. Mahsi, Mr. Chairman.