Mahsi, Minister Handley. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Minister is possibly correct that if he does open up the funding for the Metis local, then he would have a lot of other consequences of opening that door for the organizations.

Again, the NWT Metis Nation is south of the lake. It represents a different group of Metis Nation people. I am hoping that is referred to the NWT Metis. There is some talk about the Mackenzie Valley up the river right down up to the Beaufort up to the Inuvik area here. The organization gets $50,000. Then the Aboriginal Summit will have some allocation of funding. For the Metis locals again, if you look at $13,000 a year, it is just about $1,100 or $1,200 a month. You divide that into 20 or 25 days of operation. It is hard to believe that some of the organizations do not have land corporations to help them with the operation. If it wasn't for them, they would just be orphans in this community.

I sort of understand where the Premier or Minister is coming from in terms of funding this type of operation. It is just not a good thing here. Again, the Metis are left out of the political development and the evolution of the North. They are fighting hard to get some form of recognition in the federal system. You have some in the territorial where you have some Metis health benefits going to them, which is a real plus on this government's part. It is the funding of the political organization that is falling way short, Mr. Chair.

I would get into the third-party framework accountability, well, you have one, the Status of Women Council, which is a statutory organization under the territorial government. You have different other categories that are not NGOs that are not statutory organizations. Regarding this third-party framework accountability, in my opinion, the Metis Nation grants should almost fall above the Status of Women Council in terms of statutory. This is a major political body. This is a government body of Metis people in our communities. This is not an advisory committee. This is a political legitimate government body recognized by all our people. I am having a hard time, Mr. Chair, in terms of seeing how this...there are some nice words that says vision or mission goals. When you come to this here, it just doesn't mean anything. That is what I am getting at. Maybe I will leave it at that in my frustration, Mr. Chair. This means nothing. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have many different situations with regard to Metis in the Northwest Territories. In the Gwich'in area and in the Sahtu, the Metis are part of the land claim agreement so they have the benefit from that side, as well.

In the Deh Cho, it remains to be determined how they will fit in with the Dehcho claim and eventually the same with the Akaitcho region, although the North Slave Metis are recognized in some ways on their own. South of the lake, the Member is right. We have a different arrangement with the NWT Metis. So, Mr. Chair, I agree with the Member in that we have to somehow rationalize how Metis are worked with in the Northwest Territories. Right now, it is a real mixed bag of ways of funding. I don't believe the Metis are getting any money from the federal government except where they are beneficiaries.

Mr. Chair, I hope that, over time, as we get more of the claims settled, we can rationalize our way of working with the Metis communities, locals and also with the NWT Metis Association and the North Slave group.

Mr. Chair, the only thing I can say now is that we have maintained the core funding. We do have some special occasion or special events money. I am going to provide for the regions money that has been dedicated directly to the Aboriginal Summit; we will give it to the regional organizations. They can decide how to allocate it if they want to the locals. There is also capacity money that we have in our government that we will also make available on a regional basis.

Mr. Chair, I know that is not the answer that the Member would like, but, at this point in time, that is the best that I think we can do until we see more evolution of our negotiations in the southern part of the Territories and working on how we work with those who are beneficiaries. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Minister Handley. We are on page 2-134. Mr. Villeneuve.

I will wait. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Braden.

Mr. Chair, I may also need to wait. I am looking at page 135. Sorry.

Thank you, committee. We are on page 2-134, activity summary, Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, grants and contributions, grants, total grants, $300,000.

Thank you. Contributions, continued on page 2-135. Are there questions on 2-135? Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On this page, it is showing a $490,000 contribution under the heading of Intergovernmental Forum participation. It is a continuation of a similar amount that we appropriated this current year. In the previous year, $583,000, so substantial contributions were made to the Intergovernmental Forum. What is the status, Mr. Chair, of the Intergovernmental Forum? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Minister Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is one forum that I would like to speak to the Minister of DIAND about when he visits the Northwest Territories over the next month. The Intergovernmental Forum only met once as a true forum during the life of the last government. Instead, the funding was used to have the aboriginal leaders participate in events like the Circle of Northern Leaders and also through the Aboriginal Summit meetings. So the nature of the forum has changed, but with the new federal government, I am not sure exactly how he will want to deal with the forum in the sense that it was originally conceived about two governments ago. Mr. Chair, this money is used for leaders getting together to discuss issues that are of mutual concern. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Mr. Braden.

Thank you. This is where I wanted to go. As we look back a few pages in this department, Mr. Chair, we will see that the Intergovernmental Forum does not exist on the organization chart anymore. Intergovernmental relations does. Maybe there is some change in nomenclature there. If we are calling it Intergovernmental Forum participation, I guess what I want to be certain of is, as the Premier just told us, that it is used as and when the need arises for aboriginal leaders to be able to travel and attend and look after expenses at various venues or forums. I wanted to make sure, Mr. Chair. Let me put it this way: Is any of this money being used for ongoing administration, salaries or work of an ongoing nature? We will stop there, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Minister Handley.

Mr. Chair, all of the $490,000 is used to support the aboriginal organizations. None of it is used for administration, salaries or anything like that. It is all paid out as grants. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Mr. Braden.

Mr. Chair, if the Premier says it all goes to support aboriginal organizations, but none of it is used for administration, I am a bit confused on those two terms. What is the money used for, Mr. Chair?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Clarification, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chair, the money is used to enable aboriginal organizations and their representatives to participate in the various forums we have. None of it is used to pay our staff salaries. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Anything further, Mr. Braden?

Mr. Chair, is any of the money used to pay aboriginal organization salaries?