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.