Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you. I'm not a legal expert either on exactly what our rights are through the NWT Act and other legislation, but certainly it is limited in that the federal Minister of DIAND holds a lot of the authority for the Northwest Territories and also for Nunavut; somewhat less the case in the Yukon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if we don't have the legal authority, then, in our control now to control the land and resources of the Northwest Territories, surely we have some moral authority when you consider the vast percentage of our population which have unusual and extraordinary connections and rights with respect to the land. With that moral authority, is there any -- and I guess, again, looking at legal precedent -- is there any way that we can advance our case for control of our resources through the courts? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as a territorial government, and given the provisions in the NWT Act, unless it was a very specific instance, then I think we're limited in what we can do in advancing it through the courts. Now, Mr. Speaker, there have certainly been court challenges taken forward by aboriginal people who have inherent rights, who have treaty rights and so on. They have a much better case and we certainly do track what they are doing. In some cases, those are advancing the

rights of northerners in a way that we can't, because we don't have that kind of same status ourselves as a territorial government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, another source of potential support for our aspirations is the other jurisdictions in Canada who already have provincehood. I'd like to ask the Premier, Mr. Speaker, if he could share with us what his sense of that level of support is from his meetings with other Premiers and other Ministers of various portfolios. Mr. Speaker, does the Premier think that there is support for what we would like to achieve here in the North? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that there is much stronger support with the other jurisdictions, and I'll speak specifically about Premiers. I've been through this issue with them and they shake their heads and just find this totally unfair and unbelievable that today we would have a situation like ours where we're generating wealth, making decisions about protected areas and trying to get that balance and we don't have any authority. Mr. Speaker, I'll say further that even with talking with bankers in Toronto or talking with the public across the country, there is definitely a growing awareness that this situation cannot continue this way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.