Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in the environmental impact review process under the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, we're talking about the diamond mine that is going through the process right now. I understand that there have been a lot of questions posed through this process. As a government, our position in these types of talks, right from the time the first diamond mine was going through this process, is to maximize the benefits for people in the North and companies in the North, as well as to protect the environment. So once we take those types of positions, and if the application to put a mine in there is not very clear, then as the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, we have to ask these questions to see how we can maximize the benefit of our resources in the North, as well as the big emphasis on protection of the environment. That is very key to us as well. So we need to know through the application, if we have questions, we need answers to these questions. If the applicant's package is not clear in certain areas, then we need to ask questions of clarification.

Our department is to coordinate this government's participation in the environmental impact review hearings. There are other departments in this government -- for example, Education, Culture and Employment; also Health and Social Services -- and if they have their own questions pertaining to training and social aspects of a new mine, then we as RWED cannot tell them not to ask these questions. They have to ask these questions. So the intention of this government is not to slow down the process or to impede this whole thing. But the Environmental Impact Review Board has a board and they have set up a process to allow for us as a government to ask these questions, based on the position of maximizing benefits to people in the North, as well as protecting our environment. Thank you.

Yes, from RWED we could provide the questions that we posed, that we've asked through the process. We can't speak for the other departments. But through the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board there's a public registry of the transcripts of that whole process, and we could request that they provide the questions for the other departments. We could probably ask the other departments, as well, to provide that list to us and provide it to the member as well. There are two ways of doing it. Thank you.

Yes, as the government, we meet with the diamond companies on a regular basis and this is a good point to raise. The different Northerners that are not able to get employment at the mines, we raise these kinds of issues with the mining companies when we do meet on a regular basis. It is good to know the specifics of who these people are and we could move that forward through this regular meeting that we have. Although, Education, Culture and Employment are responsible for the employment side, we could try this approach. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Minister asked, if I had some ideas that I would communicate with his department. Mr. Chairman, I asked the Minister why in this day and age, the communication age, why do we need policy developers living in Yellowknife? Why do we need legislative drafters living in Yellowknife? Why do we need regional centers to represent communities when we have an overload of people here at the headquarters? Mr. Chairman, what I see in the smaller communities is income support policies forcing people to stop using income support and move them out of the communities into regional centers. The result, in fact is, Mr. Chairman, that because of the government funding relationship with the communities is based on per capita, our budgets are getting smaller. Because of the Constitution and the recognition of representation by population, with our population getting smaller, the population in the regional centres and the capital of this territory are getting higher, so more seats are going to be required in this House.

We have already seen the demonstration by the Cabinet that they are ignorant to the needs of the communities and the harmonization is one glaring example of that. So, I ask the Minister, as we live in the communication age, why can't we put three or four or five people in the communities to help the vast array of programs and services within the department so you could deliver them and people could take advantage of them, so they could assist people at the community level to take advantage of them. Those are my ideas, Mr. Chairman, and I would like to get a response from the Minister. Thank you.

These sorts of ideas are very good. I think there is an opportunity to do these sorts of initiatives in the near future. There is work internally on the transition review team to look at how this government exists and operates. RWED is a huge department that amalgamated not too long ago and the way the regions were structured as a result of the amalgamation... There's nothing saying that this is the way it should be forever. I think there are ways open here to suggest changes. I think that the way we have been operating now is not the way we've been operating four or five years ago, things are always changing. Through land claims and self government arrangements, it is going to change. Things are going to change in the future, so, if we solve the problem of housing in the smaller communities and communities other than the centres, solve the problem of office space, I don't see it would be any problem in the future for the transition review team to see if some of these positions could be moved out of the centre. Thank you.

thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am sure the Minister could appreciate the Catch 22 position that we are in here. Because of lack of housing, we can't bring people into the communities. Without a population base, you don't have an argument for more of a housing budget, so, what are the consequences? I would like to suggest to the Minister, that maybe he should take the South Slave responsibility, the regional administrative body that represents RWED and the business development side and put those positions into the communities of Fort Res and Lutselk'e. These communities are different. All communities are not the same. They are very different in their opportunities and desires. We need people that could address those opportunities and desires at the community level, not a blanket approach from a regional perspective. So, I ask the Minister, maybe one action item that he could bring about before the end of this term is to look at resolving the regional business economic development that is under RWED and put those positions in the communities so that they could help the communities develop business opportunities and other areas of opportunities. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Yes, I think through the transition review team work those same aspects of what the Member is saying have been looked at. I think it is something that needs to be done. I understand what the Member is saying, I represent six communities in my riding. Each one of them is totally different from each other and they all have their own economic dreams of what they want to do in their own respective areas. So, I understand what the Member is saying. I think we, as a government, we have to look at all our communities and look at the regions, look at how we are currently structured. Perhaps, it is time to really seriously look at all these different structures and see how we could better utilize resources that we have, trying to provide service in all the communities. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm just going to reply and then turn it over to the deputy because he was quite involved in the detail of putting the MOU together. There is an agreement between the Gwich'in and the Government of the Northwest Territories to sit down and try to flesh this agreement out. There is going to be a process in which you look at what is going to be within the Gwich'in settlement area. There are multi-year contracts that are already in existence that will be looked at. I think the Gwich'in have also put in their own Gwich'in business policy. That's what they said they were going to do through this MOU, so they have a process in their own organization. We do have our own contracting process, our own way of giving out these contracts. We stick to those, but there's a place where there's going to be planning and analysis of what's available to be included in the Gwich'in by the Inuvialuit. I'd like to turn it over to the deputy for more detail. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess the member is correct; this initiative was an inter-departmental initiative, although RWED chairs the committee. I want to indicate that we're not talking about an exact science here. What we're aiming at is 50 percent of the contracting by value going to the Gwich'in within the Gwich'in settlement area over a five-year period. I guess the way we see the process going is that we would identify projects, which we're in the process of doing now, and then our government would meet with the Gwich'in and review the projects and identify which ones the Gwich'in would be interested in. Then we would follow the negotiated policy guidelines of the government. If the expectation is it would be cost competitive, the 50 percent that is not negotiated would go out to competition. If Gwich'in businesses were successful in obtaining part of the additional 50 percent through the tendering process, that would be counted as part of the overall objective of 50 percent over five years. So that's the way we see it operating. Thank you.