Mr. Speaker, it's a great honour today to speak on the Tlicho agreement. It has been some 20 years of negotiations to the tune of $28 million being expended on these negotiations, which the Tlicho people will have to pay back. I think as a people in the Northwest Territories who have seen the development of land claims, the political process in the Northwest Territories, it has been a long, drawn out process. For people to say they weren't aware of negotiations or not aware of what's in the Tlicho agreement, I find it totally unreasonable to realize that negotiations have been going on for this long and no one knows what's in it.

I've been involved in negotiations of the Dene/Metis claims negotiations process and then also the Gwich'in agreement and the Sahtu agreement. The most cumbersome group of people to negotiate with is the Government of the Northwest Territories. The most challenging issues that you have at the negotiating table are with the Government of the Northwest Territories negotiators. You have to negotiate with the federal government and the Government of the Northwest Territories and all the other people out there. I think for people to sit here and say that we need more time, we've had 20 years. We've spent almost $30 million on negotiating the Tlicho agreement.

The same thing applied to the Inuvialuit, the Gwich'in, the Sahtu and now with the Tlicho agreement. I've spend going on eight years in this House, always bringing the Gwich'in land claim agreement with me because there are a lot of elements of this agreement which haven't even been implemented, and it's over 10 years since the Gwich'in agreement was negotiated. A simple thing like amendments to the Wildlife Act; we've served four years and this has been one of our issues and it hasn't been dealt with. We have establishment of protected areas in this agreement such as territorial parks. It's almost 10 years since these parks were established. It has taken so long to implement our land claim agreement it's pathetic. Yet people say well, they're getting all these things. You get a land claim agreement, but it doesn't mean anything unless it gets legislative assent.

I think that's what the Tlicho agreement is asking for us to do here today. As legislators we have a responsibility to uphold our commitments to First Nations people that have taken the time to negotiate their agreement and also have taken the time to make that expenditure, and negotiations are a two-way street. The federal government has their positions, the GNWT has their positions, and the First Nations people have their positions. But at the end of it all, we have an agreement that basically has been signed by the Prime Minister of Canada, the Government of the Northwest Territories and the First Nations people.

It has been televised across the country. I would like to see this agreement given assent in this House during the sitting of this legislature. If people want to have a full debate, we can debate it on the floor of this House through Committee of the Whole and have it televised across the country so every community, every person in our community can see what the questions are, what the issues are, and as Members of this Legislature standing up to face your predictions and exactly what you stand for. If you have problems with an issue, let's do it on the floor of this House. With that, Mr. Speaker, I fully support the Tlicho agreement and I will encourage Members to also support the enactment of this agreement by bringing forward the legislation that's in front of us and passing it in the Chamber of this House as soon as possible.