Thank you, Madam Chair. I was really pleased to see in the opening comments by the Minister about the protection of the environment for generations to come as a central priority of the department. When the proposed Mackenzie gas pipeline was talked about in my region, I had some real concerns with regard to the environment and how our land should be protected, our water will be saved and the food that the animals eat that would be sustained for generations to come. One of the comments from one of our elders said that a pipeline is going to come down. We see it already. We have to protect our land. It's good to see the Minister make a comment that his department is taking the process as a central priority for his department in terms of the protection of the environment. I will ask the Minister some questions on the funding and the type of approaches that he is going to use in terms of the protected areas strategy in the Northwest Territories. Things are moving fast and we are doing some work in our protected areas strategy in the Sahtu and the other regions also and the type of support this government is going to give in terms of the protected areas strategy concept. I will ask the Minister some questions later on about that.

The other one is the abandoned mines and industrial sites. In the Sahtu, a lot of work has been done on the uranium issue. Along the Great Bear River, there are a couple of uranium sites used as stockpile. In my community of Tulita, there are two sites of uranium that are a hot issue for people. Right now, the governments are deciding who is responsible for it. As the beat goes on, the uranium site and gravel stockpile is still sitting in our community. Some people are very concerned about it in my community and very emotional because the uranium has done a lot of harm to my people in the Sahtu region. There is a site at the airport that nobody seems to want to take responsibility for. People drive by every day and look at it and are curious to see who is going to make the first move in terms of helping the people in that region.

My comment has to do with the support this government is committed to in promoting excellent trapping in the Sahtu region. As you know, we have a project in the Sahtu region to get our young people and now they have women also in the trapping program that they have. Part of our cultural teaching is sporting as a cultural initiative. Not everyone wants to be pipeline workers or work in industry. Some people want to continue on with their traditional way of life of trapping. So far, I have heard some really good comments from the people who are in that trapping program. We are supporting our young people to go into that type of lifestyle and I think that is a very healthy lifestyle. I would like to commend the Minister in his support to that.

The last one I would like to comment on is the Mackenzie gas pipeline initiative. APG is going down the Mackenzie Valley asking for ownership by different communities, organizations and land claim groups. In the Sahtu, they are saying the Sahtu can own up to 34 percent of the pipeline. In the Sahtu what we are looking at is a business deal, strictly a business deal with ownership. We are not sure of how many communities are going to enter into that ownership deal, however we are working on ways that we need to get together and I see that the government has given dollars in terms of APG in terms of administrative expenses on the pipeline ownership. Our communities are also looking for some kind of support for that. We need to get together and put together a financial package and talk to people and see if this is a good deal. We need to have the resources in our communities to look at the APG and look at the risks of having ownership in this pipeline. Right now, they don't know who to turn to see what kind of resources they can get to support them. I am glad the Minister said there is a possibility of looking at a one-window approach to look at all these issues of a pipeline, but in the Sahtu region pipeline ownership is strictly a business deal and we need to do some analysis in terms of entering into that business deal with APG.

Another aspect of this pipeline is we access benefit agreements that organizations are negotiating in this pipeline deal and how these benefits will come to the people in the communities and the region. Again, we are looking for some leadership in terms of government, along with other governments, to look at some of the commonalities and common needs of people down the Mackenzie Valley in terms of negotiation and support in terms of access and benefits that will flow from the Mackenzie gas pipeline to the people in our communities.

The last one I would like to point out is community infrastructure. It's the capacity building that needs to happen in our communities in terms of the development that's going to happen in the Mackenzie Valley. It's strengthening people in the communities, and I am glad the Minister has talked to the point of involving the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. That's one point that we stress always, the need to start putting an action plan together, because 2006 is coming pretty fast. Right now the Sahtu is looking at putting together an action plan that would look at initiatives that would create opportunities for people and companies, but also look at capacity building in our communities where there is a potential Mackenzie gas pipeline.

Madam Chair, these are my comments, but I would like to stress the protected area strategy and funding for that initiative. I will leave it at that. Thank you.