Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Written Question asked by Mr. Nitah on June 18, 2002. Mr. Nitah asked whether the Dogrib Final Agreement would be initialled before certain issues and questions surrounding the Dogrib claim were resolved.

After the question was asked, the Dogrib Agreement was officially renamed the Tlicho Land Claim and Self-government Agreement.

On August 2, 2002, I wrote to Mr. Nitah explaining that an internal review was underway, that the review included the issues he had identified and that it would be completed before Cabinet authorized the GNWT chief negotiator to initial the agreement. That review was completed in August and Cabinet authorized the chief negotiator to initial. The initialling took place in Wha Ti on September 4, 2002.

The first initialling of the Tlicho Agreement was an important step in the process to allow the full contents of the Tlicho Agreement to be made public. The parties are now in the process of undertaking a comprehensive public information and review process that allows all individuals, aboriginal governments and other organizations that may be interested in or affected by the agreement to provide comment and to seek further information or clarification. This process and the comments received will form the basis for changes the parties may agree to make in finalizing the agreement.

Following the information and review process, the GNWT's chief negotiator will return to Cabinet to report on the results and on any changes made by the negotiators. At that time Cabinet's authorization will be sought to initial the final Tlicho Agreement and to formally recommend it for approval and ratification.