Mr. Chairman, the honourable Member for Hay River North has raised a lot of questions and concerns here. I did say to Members when we were talking about taking on the different negotiating tables a couple of years ago, the discussion and concern at that time was that I was hiring too many negotiators to represent the government at all these different specific tables. That was the basis of debate at that time.
At that time, all the tables started moving and we needed the different negotiators to represent the government at these tables. There was concern by the Members that the Aboriginal Affairs group at the negotiating tables was growing very rapidly. I did agree with the Members. At that time, I was told by the officials, when I asked them if we were going to be hiring more negotiators, they indicated no. I made a commitment here to the Members that I was not going to hire any more negotiators. Since that time, Aboriginal Affairs has been growing.
I think the Finance Minister also gave the information that there was a change in the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs. The Intergovernmental Forum Secretariat was in the Executive and it was moved to Aboriginal Affairs, so there were three different positions there which are not new to government. It was Executive positions that moved to Aboriginal Affairs.
At the same time, we also are now seeking funds to hire negotiators for the Intergovernmental Forum. This has evolved over the last few years. There is a need to have these positions included in Aboriginal Affairs, since we are responsible for the Intergovernmental Forum. If the Intergovernmental Forum Secretariat remained in the Executive, these positions would have gone to the Executive. It was a Cabinet decision to move the Intergovernmental Forum closer with Aboriginal Affairs. There is an increase in the PYs.
I must also indicate that the Aboriginal Affairs core group is located on the seventh floor of the Precambrian Building, but two years ago, once the full contingent of the negotiators were on-stream, additional space was found on the ninth floor of the Precambrian Building. With these additional staff we have taken on and are going to be taking on, the office space on the ninth floor was too small to accommodate everyone.
Since the third floor was vacated by the Audit Bureau, and it is also a government lease, as you know there are a number of office buildings in Yellowknife that our government has long-term leases with to try and accommodate all the different government departments. In the Precambrian Building, upon the Audit Bureau vacating the third floor, it is still a government lease. There was a requirement there to configure it to accommodate the implementation sector of Aboriginal Affairs that was on the ninth floor in with the Intergovernmental Forum group that is going to move in there. That was the nature of the request.
As for the possibility of relocating it out into the communities, we have explored that but Aboriginal Affairs, through negotiations, plays a coordinating role at the different negotiating tables. We need to be continuously meeting with the other departments after the session is over and getting ready for the next session. It makes sense to be located in Yellowknife. Thank you.
