Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to offer a few general comments as well. Mr. Chairman, I think there is definitely a sense in this Assembly, probably because of the people we have in the gallery, I feel the sense of this being an historical moment in the life of this Assembly. It seems to be that whenever we have these moments, we usually have our friends from the Dogrib community.

Mr. Chairman, in the life of this Assembly I have had many occasions to reflect on the work that we do in this House. We spend a lot of days and nights going in and out of here, taking care of very mundane business, but when you take a step back and really look at that big picture, I am always amazed at how big a task that we are asked to look after in this Assembly. I think of the work that this government and the Premier have had to do for the last few years, whether it is the diamond file, or oil and gas file or whether it is the Premier going and negotiating with the multi-nationals in England or wherever, trying to wrestle the pipeline file away from Alaska and the Yukon. It is quite amazing when we are such a small population and we are being asked to do so much. We are a little mouse that is being asked to roar like a lion, and I think that we should appreciate the work that we are asked to do. I don't think there is anything more important than the rights of aboriginal people that we are being asked to recognize in this House.

Mr. Chairman, I have said this before in my time here. I had the opportunity to work here as an employee way before I became an MLA and in the 20 years that I have witnessed this House, I have seen the trails that we blaze in this Assembly in terms of the sheer representation of aboriginal power in the Territories and in this Assembly. Now we have an historical first, an agreement that encompasses a land claims agreement as well as self-government in Tlicho. It's quite breathtaking what we're being asked to do, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I believe that most people in the Territories support the settlement of land claims and self-government agreements. I think the election pamphlets I've seen from the last election wanted people called on speedy resolution of land claim settlements because, as you mentioned, it will bring stability and certainty in getting these claims settled. Specifically for Tlicho, I have no doubt that this will bring economic benefits to Yellowknife and surrounding regions.

Mr. Chairman, many people have mentioned here about the process, and I would like the people from Tlicho to understand what the concerns are. The concerns about the process have to do with the agreement itself. I think they need to know that we were always under the understanding that we would not be ratifying this agreement in this Assembly, but that we would have some more time to do it.

Other Members have mentioned the fact that we always have this...We have a bill introduced here and that it gets first and second reading, and they go out to public hearings and then come back for third reading. But that's not necessarily true either, Mr. Chairman, because we've had cases where Members unanimously agreed to not have a public hearing and sent it back to Committee of the Whole for third reading. I recall the bill to give extra pension to Members didn't go to public hearings, so it's not entirely correct if we say we are totally discarding a process.

I do want to say, though, Mr. Chairman, I don't believe this bill is made up of simple clauses. It does say important things and I don't think there is any question that this is constitution-making. So that means that this is not a simple law. A constitution is a law that makes laws, and a constitution sets out the rules about how laws are made and about how policies are made. But more importantly, Mr. Chairman, constitution making is about creating different relationships. I do believe fundamentally that this legislation and this agreement is a start of a new relationship between not only the Tlicho people and the rest of the people in the area, but in the whole of the Territories.

So my concern about now having had a lot of time for process hasn't necessarily been to do with procedural step-by-step in this House, but it has to do with my belief that constitution making is about creating different relationships and that requires to me an opportunity for conversation among the people that are affected.

Mr. Chairman, as you know, I served as the co-chair on the Special Committee on the Implementation of Self-Government, and we went around the Territories and we talked about how we get ourselves ready for the post-self-government NWT. In that report we said here on page 1, if I may read this, "We want to encourage a territory-wide conversation about what all NWT residents can expect in the future, the future of all NWT communities will be linked together even more closely than they are today. The new relationships that will develop among our northern governments will depend on our attitudes and our relationships with each other." That is talking about the different attitudes and relationships that we have to work towards in the post-self-government implementation period. I lament the fact that we have missed that opportunity to have that conversation, because I know the Tlicho people have worked on this for many, many years and all the aboriginal leaders have been very involved with that. But I can tell you that there are people in my riding who would have wanted to have that conversation, and I do believe it's not too late. I believe this is a start of a new relationship. This legislation will bring that start, and if anything my understanding of not only this self-government agreement but all those other ones that are being worked on will necessitate all of us, as well as all the aboriginal peoples in different regions and at different negotiating tables to continue to have a conversation about how we work together, we coordinate our law-making and budgeting process and, perhaps, sometimes conflicting rights.

So, Mr. Chairman, I realize that I'm running out of time here for this round. I just wanted to add my comment on it. I do have specific questions from the Minister's statement that he made, so I will look to do that and I do believe that the few clauses that are in legislation need some explanation from the Minister as to its implications and its meanings, and I plan on pursuing that. But it was important to me that I explain why from my point of view, the government had an obligation, I believe, to let the people who are not directly under the influence of this agreement know what this new relationship is that has been created. Because of the cutting off of the time we have missed that opportunity. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.