Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think there is hardly a week that goes by that we are not asked as a government to sponsor something outside of the Territories. I am sure that there is hardly a day that goes by that we are not asked to help out with an event in the Northwest Territories. We certainly give priority to events in the Northwest Territories. When it comes to events outside of the Territories, we look very carefully at them. Mr. Speaker, I only received a couple of weeks ago just a very brief letter from the people organizing this event, which I have no doubt is very important to them, but there is not enough detail to be able to respond quickly to it. I have passed that on to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. At this point, based on the information that arrived to me, I have difficulty supporting this kind of general request for an event down in Calgary. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I heard many times the Premier speaking about the values of having a united voice about issues concerning the North, given that a substantial portion of the North is of Dene ancestry and this gathering is a Dene gathering of all the people of North America and requires some support from this government. Also, the Premier indicated that the financial restraints make it difficult for the Premier to commit. Would the Minister commit to looking at supporting the 2006 International Dene Gathering? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, certainly, I would consider the one in 2006 where we have some notice. We have some time to answer questions and see what the agenda is, who is participating, who else is contributing funding. That kind of thing I would certainly look very carefully at. When we get these last minute ones, it is very difficult for us to justify spending the money. I would really appreciate information quickly on the 2006 proposed event. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Dene people throughout the Northwest Territories, I thank the Premier for supporting this at this time. Would the Premier commit to supporting the second phases as soon as we get the information to his office to start circulating it amongst the Dene governments? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to see the information and what the expected results would be, what the dollars are before I commit. I certainly encourage Members who have information on the second phase to get that information to us and I will look at it with my department. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the elders have given us their guidance and wisdom in our path in life and what we choose to do. I would ask the Premier if he would reconsider in terms of offering some support to this international gathering for this year. I know they have asked for a specific amount, but I am not sure what the exact amount is, but I think it would be good to have some signal from this government to offer some

support to the elders who are gathering down in Calgary. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I would need more information because what I have received so far is just information that Dene elders from across North America and youth and others are gathering on a reserve outside of Calgary and asking us for $15,000, I believe it was, to send some drummers to this event. I don't know anything about the event. I just need more information, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Justice. In my riding in the community of Fort Simpson, it was brought to my attention that the court worker position has not been filled for quite some time and what they typically would do is they would bring in another member from a community like Hay River. Recently, they haven't even been doing that, so my question to the Minister of Justice is when will they be looking at filling the court worker position in Fort Simpson to address the justice needs of Fort Simpson?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister of Justice, the Honourable Charles Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't know. I will have to take the question as notice.

The Minister is taking the question as notice. Item 6, oral questions. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Premier, in follow-up to Mr. Braden's questions with respect to comments that the Premier recently made that were attributed to him in the media. I will just paraphrase; it was to the effect that without a resource revenue sharing agreement with Ottawa, the pipeline would not go ahead. I have to tell you I was somewhat surprised to read that, given some of our previous discussions, but I was pleased because I made it very clear in other communications with the Premier that I believe that for us to proceed without our rightful share of the royalties from our non-renewable resources is not a good deal for the Northwest Territories. Having said that, I also want to clarify that I am not against the pipeline. I am pro-development, but not at any cost and without the kinds of benefits in place for northerners that need to be in place before we proceed. Mr. Braden raised a good point when he said the diamonds are going out, the gas and oil activity is marching on and what incentive does the federal government have to come to the table to have the royalties discussion with us. What do we have at our disposal to bring them to that discussion? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, while it's true that the federal government can probably just go ahead and permit the building of the Mackenzie pipeline in spite of concerns, objectives or issues that are raised in the North, they can expropriate land and do what they feel is in the national interest. That is not the way the federal government wants to do this. That is why, Mr. Speaker, I understand that Minister Anne McLellan has been given the lead on this one. She is to work out a way to have the pipeline move ahead with the support of northerners. So what does the federal government want? They want our support as northerners. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that the Prime Minister very much recognizes the importance of the North, and the Northwest Territories in particular, to all Canadians. He wants to see that pipeline go ahead. He does not, from his words to me, want to see it go over in spite of objectives from us. The only thing we have is our support. The federal government could license it and just run right over us if they wanted to, but I don't believe it will go that way.

I am also, Mr. Speaker, very much in support of the pipeline, but the same as Mrs. Groenewegen, I am not in support of it at any cost. There has to be a benefit to us. It's our future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Premier for that as well. I guess I am just not as optimistic as he is, given the federal government is holding all the cards on this. I just can't think of a reason why they would want to be nice to us. It sounds like it could proceed over our objectives anyway. I know you said they don't want to, but the fact is it could. So I think we need to assure northerners how far we are prepared to go to protect the interest of the Northwest Territories in this scenario.

The Premier referred to an interim agreement on resource revenue sharing and also the fact that there was supposed to be a meeting of the Aboriginal Summit this week, but it couldn't take place. Does the Premier then have a clear mandate from our aboriginal partners, our leaders, our grand chiefs, chiefs, to proceed to negotiate an interim agreement with the federal government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.