Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I would just like to make a general comment on page 3 of 3, under the department requesting this money to participate in lands and resource self-government.
We have seen a historical event just recently with the new Tlicho government and self-government agreement being settled in the North here. It has been highly recognized in the North and also throughout Canada. Along with that, within that jurisdiction, I guess the Tlicho is now in power and also has the lawmaking on the 39,000 square kilometres of land that has been identified. Also, there are similar agreements with the Sahtu, the Inuvialuit and other land claim settlements that they have their own lawmaking powers thus creating community governance and capacity building in the communities along in the regions and also the communities to make their own choice and decisions. That has an impact on the communities and also the people of their communities.
Mr. Chair, I was kind of struck to see that there is a decrease in funding on these lands resources self-government negotiation for 2006-09. This is highly important in the North. It has always been stressed by First Nations that we need to settle our land claims. I realize that we are focussing a lot on resource revenue sharing. That is greatly beneficial for the North. We are fully aware of that. There are also devolution talks, more funding allocated towards that area, but I don't really see a huge decrease in funding in these areas, and here we are tackling our negotiation with land claims and self-government funding, spending decrease. I was kind of puzzled to see that, because every time we go to communities or even Dene Nation meetings or any First Nations' meetings, land claims is always on the table. Self-government is always on the table. They want to finalize those agreements immediately. It has been ongoing for a number of years. We are reaching a point where Tlicho, Sahtu, Inuvialuit and other respective parties have settled. Now I think we need to focus on Dehcho, Akaitcho and different areas to push it even further. I am sure there will be other questions relating to this matter. I am sure Mr. Yakeleya also brought it up that we need to focus in this area. At the appropriate time, Mr. Chair, when we discuss further in detail about the decrease in funding, I am sure we will be asking more questions in that area. Mahsi.
