Page 2-43.

Return to page 2-13, program summary, operations expenditure summary, $13.197 million.

Does committee agree that we have concluded the Department of Executive?

I would like to thank the Premier and his staff for coming down. I will ask Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the witnesses out. Thank you.

Does committee agree to take a 15-minute break before we go on to Aboriginal Affairs?

----SHORT RECESS

I call Committee of the Whole back to order. We are now into Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. At this time, I would like to ask the Premier if he has any opening comments.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the opportunity today to present the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations 2006-2007 Main Estimates.

For 2006-2007, the department is requesting a budget of $7.328 million which represents a 4.36 percent, or $334,000, decrease from the restated 2005-2006 Main Estimates.

During the review of the 2005-2006 Draft Main Estimates, the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight recommended that the Premier undertake an internal review of the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs and the Department of Executive to identify areas of duplication. We met with Regular Members on several occasions over the past few months to look at options for improving the overall coordination and reducing overlap between the Department of Executive and the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs.

In an effort to acknowledge the changing reality of intergovernmental relations between the GNWT and emerging aboriginal governments, the intergovernmental relations function has been moved to the newly named Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. The department will now be responsible for all federal-provincial-territorial-aboriginal intergovernmental relations. The reorganization also included moving the responsibilities of the devolution division to the Department of Executive.

The Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations has been charged with streamlining and improving how we, as a government, do business with our aboriginal partner governments, and improving our intergovernmental relations will be top priority. The expanded mandate of the department allows this government to build upon and enhance intergovernmental working relationships, with a particular focus on those with existing and emerging aboriginal governments.

Of course, the new department will still continue to protect, develop and promote the interests of the GNWT and the residents of the Northwest Territories by negotiating and monitoring the implementation of land, resource and self-government agreements. We will keep producing mandates to provide instructions for negotiations and will continue to develop legislation to ratify agreements as they become finalized. Communications will play a key role during this transition period and it will ensure that the department makes every effort to keep various audiences informed about all its functions.

Every effort was made to ensure that the revised mandates of the departments of Executive and Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations would not result in increased costs to this government. Despite the expanded mandate of the department, no new positions were added to the organization.

The 2005-2006 Main Estimates have been restated from $8.198 million to $7.662 million reflecting an increase of $937,000 for the transfer of Intergovernmental Relations and a decrease of $1.473 million for the transfer of the budget for the Devolution Secretariat to the Executive.

Budgetary Requirements

The 2006-2007 Main Estimates shows a reduction of $334,000 due to the following factors:

Reductions

• • In response to the one percent cost reduction exercise, the department has reduced its budget by $109,000. This reduction will be achieved through the ongoing management of vacancies and reduced spending in other expenses, such as travel and contracted services.
• • The department is requesting less money to participate in lands, resources and self-government negotiations for 2006-2009 than the amount of funding that is sunsetting. The net result is a decrease of $73,000.
• • A $196,000 base transfer was made to the Department of Executive to assist with the costs of improving the planning and coordination functions in government.
• • $355,000 was sunsetted, representing the funds allocated to the department for 2005-2006 to develop and implement a Northern Strategy.
• • We concur with the standing committee that it is important to hold land, resource and self-government negotiating sessions where they matter most, which is in communities impacted by such negotiations. The department has decreased its travel budget by $102,000 and is committed to strengthen its lobbying efforts with the other parties to hold as many negotiating sessions as possible in the North.

Additions

However, despite best efforts to keep costs in check, there are some unavoidable forced growth increases reflected in the department's budget request. These increases total $438,000 and include:

• • $421,000 related to the salary increase resulting from the new Collective Agreement;
• • $9,000 for TSC/communication chargeback rate increases.

I would like to thank Members for their continued collaboration, advice and input on the departmental reorganization. I would now be pleased to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Mr. Menicoche.

Members of the Accountability and Oversight committee had an opportunity to meet with the Premier on September 20, 2005, to review the draft business plan for the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs.

Members also received a briefing from the Minister of Finance on January 17, 2006, outlining the changes to the budget for the ministry since the committee reviewed the draft business plan in September.

Committee members made note that the ministry is proposing to spend $7.328 million in operations expense for the fiscal year 2006-2007.

Members also made note of the transfer of the intergovernmental function from the Executive to the ministry and the transfer of the devolution function out of the ministry into the Executive.

Committee members offer the following comments on issues arising out of the review of the 2006-2007 Draft Main Estimates and budget-planning cycle.

Holding GNWT Negotiations In Regions

During the review of the 2006-2009 Draft Business Plan, the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight voiced its long-standing frustration that land claims and self-government negotiations often occur thousands of miles from the communities that are central to the negotiations. The land and communities are, after all, the essence of the negotiations, and committee members feel that negotiations should take place where these negotiations matter most. Although the committee

understands that there are logistical reasons that negotiating tables cannot be moved permanently to the regions, the committee would like to see negotiations held in the relevant regions, as much as possible.

Recommendation

The Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight recommends that, whenever possible, the GNWT should actively seek to hold self-government and land claim negotiations in the relevant regions and to report back to the committee on progress during the next business planning cycle.

Core Principles And Objectives

The committee was pleased to note during the review of the 2006-2009 Draft Business Plan that the ministry has turned its attention to the important issue of how to ensure territory-wide standards are maintained in the self-government political environment.

The committee points out the importance of ensuring standards are protected within the public tendering processes so as to protect the interests of all companies that do business inside the Northwest Territories, to ensure that taxpayers receive the best value for their money for public procurement and to ensure the rule of law is maintained in public government. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. At this time, I would like to ask if the Premier would like to bring in witnesses.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Does committee agree?

Sergeant-at-Arms, if you are around here, bring in the witnesses.

Mr. Premier, please introduce your witnesses.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With me are Gabriela Sparling, deputy minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations; and, Richard Robertson, chief financial officer of the department. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. General comments. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the vision of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations talks about a partnership with the Canadian federation. I would just like a brief plan in terms of...He talked earlier about devolution and resource revenue sharing in terms of his vision of this department. How do we fit into the full partnership of Confederation in Canada? What does that sentence mean to be a full partner in Confederation? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Does committee agree that we will go right to the Minister to answer the question? Right now, we are in general comments

Does committee agree? Mr. Yakeleya, you can make more general comments, if you have them. Thank you.

I apologize. Good chairman. I apologize to the Premier and the chair. Thanks for keeping me on track. This question will come up again when we go through detail.

Mr. Chairman, I will have some questions in terms of our full participation or partnership in the Canadian Federation. I believe the Premier has some strategy on how to get there. Resource revenue sharing is certainly the biggest one. Devolution, well, we've been doing that for the last number of years and the Premier sometimes needs to be reminded on the number of years we have been dealing with devolution. I suppose I am more interested in our strategy as a small territory. We have some partnerships within the provinces of Canada and hopefully one day we will have some significant impacts on the Constitution and have some authority, I would say, in terms of province responsibilities and authority. To have that type of leverage, it would be in the Federation of Canada here. Of course, we have ongoing negotiations with several communities on self-government to a point where the Tlicho now is implementing their self-government land claim agreement. I am very curious as to the future of the Northwest Territories. We have these different models of self-government being negotiated. They want to have different jurisdictions, almost state-like authority that, when we negotiate these self-government agreements and models, the territorial government will have a role to play. To what extent I am not too sure, the extent of the authority they will have, the role. I believe that it could be something like where the federal government now has a role in Canada with each province assuming some responsibility. I am going to make that presumption that would happen in the Northwest Territories, also that each jurisdiction will have some authority of its own and then the other territorial-wide authority will devolve to this government here because we are such a small province. I think that might be a way of looking at it.

I guess I'm just looking at it in terms of long-term visioning and long-term planning in terms of these negotiations. It might be 10 or 15 years from now. I will ask the Premier that question in terms of long-term vision and planning, how he sees these negotiations playing itself out in the type of authority that the communities are negotiating. Are we, as a territorial government, supporting the aboriginal governments, supporting our own government? What road do we see ourselves in? Some of the communities still have a different view as how the inherent right to self-government is interpreted and how we interpret it. How important is our relationship with the communities? Those types of questions I will wait until later on.

The other one there is how we are funding and how we are looking after our aboriginal organizations. Those questions will come up in detail, so I want to say that to the Premier. Those would be my opening comments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Handley. Oh, we are in opening comments. Okay. Are there any other comments? Mr. Lafferty.