Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we've heard in the very brief report from the committee that Members felt that with the time remaining in the life of this Assembly and with this bill reaching second reading and being referred to committee, that there wasn't enough time to hold hearings throughout communities in the Northwest Territories that could be affected by this legislation. So it was felt that we come to this arena, to the floor in Committee of the Whole and have our questions and concerns answered by the Minister in this forum. I look at it from this perspective, my constituents back home can have an opportunity to hear responses from the government and areas of concern that I think would be of concern to them. I would like to let the Minister know that depending on the responses he would provide for at least myself, it will affect the way I vote on this bill. I did say during second reading, I supported the principle of the bill. I think it's something that all aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories are working on and have spent many years trying to accomplish. There are many arguments why it's seen as the best thing for people across the Northwest Territories.

I, myself, coming from the Inuvialuit region, they are in negotiations and working towards their end of a self-government agreement with this government as well. So as we heard the Minister say, this agreement is the first of its kind and, in fact, is trend-setting, I guess one can say. It is setting the scale and pace of future change of the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Chairman, I will, when we get into the detail, have some further questions for the Minister, but wanted to, for the record, state in this process, that hopefully as we question the Minister, people across the North will see this as an opportunity and hopefully as Members address questions, they will see it as a way of addressing their concerns that, unfortunately, we weren't able to get from the public as we didn't go through communities. One of the things the Minister stated and referred to and I will have some questions later on is the Constitution of Canadians and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and asking how it would impact or benefit citizens who are not Tlicho citizens who are not in that settlement area and how that would guarantee their inclusion when it comes to how individuals are selected and represented on the councils.

We've heard in this House before, Mr. Chairman, how this was a very straightforward piece of legislation and there's nothing much to it. I don't have the exact wording but the Premier spoke to this a number of days ago. It may be a short bill in conjunction of other bills when we do a comparison. Thirteen clauses is not a lot, but this is a very significant piece of legislation. As the Minister stated, much work has been put into this. At the same time as a representative who is representing a public government and my community is multicultural, I feel that I must also represent those in my constituency in the way I would ask questions of how this might potentially impact those who wouldn't feel that they were part of a self-government group. I hope the Minister would have some responses that would sway me in a way of supporting this through third reading.

We've also had a number of other concerns, and the Minister touched on them slightly from the Metis group; concerns about how their issues are being addressed or not being addressed. Hopefully the Minister will be able to address those concerns to the satisfaction of Members. I guess from there, Mr. Chairman, I don't have a lot of other general comments. It's just more of the specifics depending on the responses from the Minister and see where we go. Thank you.