Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (English not provided)
Mr. Speaker, after my previous statements and statements by my colleagues over the past few days, it was with great disappointment that we heard on the 5:30 news last night that the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs has gone ahead and named a British Columbia resident who was not nominated by board members as the new chair of the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board.
Mr. Speaker, the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act says very clearly that the Minister shall appoint the board chairs from among persons nominated by the board members unless the board members failed to nominate someone acceptable to the Minister within a reasonable time. In this case, the board did nominate three people, Mr. Speaker. Is the DIAND Minister going to explain to the board and to the people of the Northwest Territories why, in his opinion, none of these three nominees, all northern residents, were acceptable? Where is the accountability, Mr. Speaker?
Mr. Speaker, this entire Mackenzie Valley Resource Management regime was set up as part of the implementation of the Sahtu and Gwich'in land claim agreements. The federal government just finished ratifying the Tlicho agreement, which will make us part of that regime too. These agreements were signed in good faith by our people with the understanding that the federal government would honour the spirit of its own laws and respect wishes of board members.
Mr. Speaker, the board structure was carefully designed so the interest of aboriginal people, the Government of the Northwest Territories and Canada were all balanced. The fallback provision allowing the Minister to appoint a chair who was not nominated by the board is the exception, not the rule. I don't believe it was ever intended, at least from our side, that this would be used except in extreme cases; for example, if the board was unable to come up with any nominations at all. Yet the Minister has gone ahead and appointed a chair who doesn't even live in the Northwest Territories. Is this the kind of total disregard and the wishes of the board and northerners what we have to look forward to?
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