Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you. I, too, wanted to congratulate the grads. I was able to take part in the ceremonies last night for the tail end of it anyway. I wanted to recognize a number of people: Debra Buggins, Angus McKay, also Cecile Deneyoua, who used to live in Fort Providence and now lives in Hay River, and a couple of classmates or people I went to Akaitcho Hall with, Lorraine and Grace. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we've missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the House. Always a pleasure to have an audience here. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Health and Social Services and it's in follow-up to my statement, or part of my statement, about Nats'ejee K'eh labour dispute. I'm wondering if the Minister can give us an update on where the talks are at, as much as he can reveal. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as Members are aware, discussions are ongoing and meetings are happening, so that's been a good sign. As well, there was a press release issued by the union that they had a number of positive meetings. So things are moving along and hopefully we can make an announcement during our session here, bringing conclusion to the process that started a number of months ago. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've had a number of discussions on the progress of this issue with the Minister, but I must admit that I haven't had a chance to talk to him about it in the last couple of days. I did read that press release, but at that press release you indicated that they were going to plan for about two days of talks. So are they still talking now? As long as they're talking I think we have a good chance of arriving at negotiated settlement. Is there anything further on where they are, whether they are still talking, do they still plan on talking, or has that two days passed? If it has passed, then are there any more plans to reschedule? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the meetings, as I'm aware, were scheduled and ongoing. We're hopeful that if they're close to coming to conclusion that they will continue on. That's the latest that we have. Things are moving ahead. Discussions are happening. Beyond getting into more detail, I think we'll leave it at that and know that things have turned around and there are some good and healthy discussions happening and I think they've agreed to the majority of issues they were discussing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon will be for the Premier and they relate to the statement that I made earlier today on devolution and resource revenue sharing.

Mr. Speaker, this House had asked the Premier to come back to us with an agreement-in-principle on resource revenue sharing and devolution before the next federal budget. Mr. Speaker, we understand that the federal government is now looking potentially at a late-March budget day. My question is, is it realistic, Mr. Speaker? Is it realistic to expect that an AIP on resource revenue sharing and devolution could be delivered to the Northwest Territories by that time next month? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since we last met in this Chamber, I've had several meetings with aboriginal leaders going back to early December. At that meeting there was agreement by the majority of aboriginal leaders, regional aboriginal leaders in the Territories, that it was possible to work toward -- and they would work with us -- toward an agreement-in-principle by the end of March 2007. Mr. Speaker, that's a week or so, or 10 days or so after the federal budget and realistically the federal government has indicated to us that it's not likely they could come to a resource revenue sharing deal in advance of the federal budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the sense that I'm getting then is that we should not expect an agreement-in-principle on those topics to be at hand. Are we still continuing to negotiate, Mr. Speaker? Is the NWT and Canada still continuing to negotiate with this new situation that the Aboriginal Summit is no longer at the table? I had always anticipated that these were a three-party negotiation and I'm wondering just what stage or what status do they have right now, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To be clear to the Member and to Members, we are working toward an agreement-in-principle by the end of March. That's our goal and that is the goal of the majority of aboriginal leaders. The federal government, the Minister of DIAND has indicated that he will work toward that as long as it's doable. He wanted to talk more with his negotiators, as well.

Mr. Speaker, yes, we are continuing to negotiate. We are negotiating on issues that are bilateral with the federal government. Those are ongoing. The last session was a week or so ago and are planned again for later this month or early March and working toward that date we have set.

Mr. Speaker, that's a target we're moving toward, so there's no binding contract saying we're going to achieve it. We're going to work toward that.

Mr. Speaker, the decision by the aboriginal leaders to dismantle the Aboriginal Summit was their decision and not ours. The summit is their secretariat, if I can call it that. They were frustrated by the lack of progress being made through that vehicle and are working very closely with us on the target of March 31st.

Mr. Speaker, as we speak, there are workshops going on as they asked for us to explain more clearly to the aboriginal people in the communities what devolution in particular means and how it might impact on their claims. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again respecting the difficulties that organizations have from time to time at staying on the same page, this government and the federal government I know have made substantial investments into these processes, including the Aboriginal Summit and the Intergovernmental Forum. I'm wondering to what extent we are being asked, or are we going to continue to support or assist or enable the aboriginal organizations and governments to be at these negotiations and to be a full part of them, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We certainly want to give the aboriginal leaders the ability, the capacity to be able to participate in negotiations toward devolution and resource revenue sharing. A decision has been made to allocate the money that we would normally contribute to the Aboriginal Summit to each of the regional groups on a proportionate basis that they have agreed to. We are in the process of doing that right now. Each region will be funded separately for negotiations. Mr. Speaker, they will work together and are of the same mind with regard to devolution. That is those who are working with us. Not all of them are working with us on this, Mr. Speaker, because they have other priorities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I respect that we are continuing to keep negotiations going and, indeed, I support that and I want them to keep going. That's my concern and my question is, what's at risk here? As discussions and agreements continue and we put deals together, what is at risk by virtue of some of the aboriginal governments not participating or not being as fully engaged as everyone else, Mr. Speaker?