Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I listened to one of my colleagues raise the issue today of the producers, the two big mines we have here in the Northwest Territories, that being BHP and Diavik. I would be one of the first to champion what they have done here in the Northwest Territories, in terms of bringing jobs and boosting our economy. I know as a counsellor in the late 1990s, here in the city of Yellowknife, when we were faced with the closure of Miramar Mine and soon after the Giant Mine, or Giant Mine and then Miramar, with not too many prospects on the horizon and then diamonds came along and really bailed out the city of Yellowknife, in particular, and has had a really beneficial impact on the entire Northwest Territories.
You still get the people that you run into, that can't get a job at BHP, they can't get a job at Diavik, even though they are northern. I hear this on the street, I hear it in coffee shops, I hear it wherever I go. People get hired at BHP or at Diavik and they are deemed a northern hire. They work there for a little while and the next thing you know they are living in Saskatchewan, Alberta or British Columbia. Do the numbers still play out that they are a northern hire or they are deemed to be a northern resident, when in fact they are living in southern Canada in what is, in essence, a fly-in/fly-out operation?
The one thing that we have to try to get a grip on here is that these mines are not going to be around forever. What we have to do is maximize what is available to us to ensure that northern people are getting jobs at the mines. Today, I am not convinced that that is happening. I hear too many stories about people not being able to get jobs at BHP or Diavik that have lived in the Northwest Territories for a long period of time.
I mentioned earlier, perhaps the diamonds projects division isn't the best vehicle to try to police the socioeconomic agreements or to try to ensure that the people that are, in fact, on the ground working at Diavik and working at BHP are truly residents of the Northwest Territories.
I would like to know exactly what those numbers are. I know the numbers come out in annual reports and everything but, like I said, if the person is hired here, they are deemed to be a northern resident. I know many of my friends have gotten jobs at Diavik and BHP and they are living in B.C., in Saskatchewan, in Northern Alberta. They have left the Northwest Territories, Mr. Chairman.
I am wondering what we are looking at doing to try to ensure that the numbers that are being reported from our producing mines are in fact real indicators of what is happening. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.