Yes, I would, Mr. Chairman.

Does committee agree?

Sergeant-at-Arms, bring in the witnesses, please.

Mr. Premier, can you introduce your witnesses, please?

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

Thank you, Mr. Premier. General comments.

Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The point I want to raise is the importance of this department in light of the significant negotiations going on down the Mackenzie Valley and the amount of resources needed in the Northwest Territories; royalties, benefits and decision-making authorities. At the same time, negotiations are happening with communities and regions on the self-government process. I hope to see some of that concluded. I wanted to comment on the importance of these self-government negotiations and hope they are carried out in the spirit and intent of the negotiators when they sit down to ink the final document and have it implemented in the North.

Mr. Chairman, I also want to comment on the importance of our negotiators coming into our regions and communities and understanding our way of life, and our culture and language is key to really working on a strong partnership together. I am not sure if that has been brought forward, but I believe it will now. I think that's really important to forge strong relationships and partnerships.

As the Minister indicated in his previous position with the Department of Executive, we have to really form strong partnerships with our aboriginal governments. It's long past that we have two different paths in the Northwest Territories. I think we really have to take on ownership of working together. The responsibility is so critical at this time and your department is so critical in this area. I can't stress the importance this department means to the people in our small communities.

I speak passionately because I know what it means in people's minds and hearts when they sign these agreements. They are nothing to be fooled around with. They are serious agreements. They mean a lot and the spirit and intent of these agreements go back to 1921 and the 1800s. If you sat down with the elders and asked them about the treaty agreements, they would really give you a clear picture of how these treaty negotiations were taking place. They understood the meaning of the sun rising, the grass growing and the river flowing and the treaty. They take a different view at how we look at these treaties. If you listened to how this treaty was negotiated, they don't say the sun rising, the grass growing and the river flowing for nothing. They had a strong, significant meaning to those words.

I hope that somehow we can show that we will work strongly with our aboriginal negotiators and our negotiations in the different regions here to put together a strong position by the Northwest Territories and stop using two paths to benefit the Northwest Territories. We are too small in numbers. We know each other down the Mackenzie Valley. It's very hard sometimes because of regional differences. It becomes so hard and we take positions that make it hard sometimes to communicate with one another.

I just wanted to stress that to the Premier and the staff and my colleagues. It's very important. This department means a lot for me and the people I represent and us working together. I know that we could do it. That's all I would like to say, Mr. Chair, to the Premier.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. (English not provided)

I would just like to highlight some key points here as a general statement to the Minister. We talk about the government-to-government issues and resolving issues. There is always ongoing discussion. We sign off land claim agreements with various parties as the GNWT perspective. We sign off with aboriginal governments, along with the federal government. It's an agreement that has to be fully respected. You know, we've always heard our elders tell us work together. There will be hard times, but we must work together as much as we can. We will get over the hurdle.

The reason I am saying that is sometimes we talk about the government. We, as the GNWT, are a government for the Northwest Territories. At the same time, our neighbours, Tlicho, has their own government as well. They are going on two years now and there will be other governments in the Northwest Territories as well. We must respect them as a government, stand-alone government. At the same time, we still have to work together.

When they signed the treaties, they have always stated as long as the sun shines, the river flows, we will not be restricted. We still hold that to our hearts. It's not our words, it's the words of our elders and ancestors who have passed on, but it's still written. Respect is a huge word in the communities. Whenever we go to communities, they respect us and we show that respect back.

We are still implementing these agreements and there are always hurdles or obstacles in the way that we must overcome. There are issues that may be minor and some may become major that we have to tackle. I would like to say here let's keep the doors open as government to government and pursue further as positive working relationships. There may have been stumbling blocks in the past with our neighbouring Tlicho Government. They are learning, as we are. We have been there before as the territorial government when we first started back in the early '70s. We have gone beyond that. I am sure the Tlicho Government will do the same thing.

Let's work with them. For sure, building a positive relationship will go a long way. And other governments as well. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. General comments.

Can we go to 2-96 and 2-97? Activity summary, Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, operations expenditure summary, $7.450 million.

Page 2-100, activity summary, Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, grants and contributions, grants, $1.330 million. Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just on the intergovernmental initiatives fund of $830,000, I'm not going to say this is not a good thing, because I think it's something that's long overdue again. First Nations governments before something like this was even set up, you know, a lot of programs, community programs in smaller communities suffered because they didn't have funding sources like this. So they diverted funds from community programs in order for them to come here and talk with the GNWT about intergovernmental issues and initiatives here in Yellowknife as a staff. Even though I don't think that $830,000 is even close to what they should be entitled to, mind you, because we're talking quite a few aboriginal governments, at least 50 or 60 councillors -- with the Northern Leaders Conference you can see how many people we're talking about -- and yet we've got 43 staff here with a budget of $7.5 million and we're throwing out there the aboriginal governments to come here to Yellowknife on this $830,000 to talk about intergovernmental issues. So that's just a comment I wanted to make. I think it's something that should be growing as far as funding sources for communities, First Nations governments in the smaller centres that can't afford and don't want to take out program money in community programs. I think we should build on it. That's all I've got to say. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. We're on page 2-100 and 2-101, activity summary, Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, grants and contributions, grants, $1.330 million.

Contributions, total grants and contributions, $1.330 million.

Turn to page 2-104, 2-105, Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, information item, work done on behalf of others, $485,000. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. One question to the Minister in terms of the work done on behalf of others in terms of the Sahtu implementation, I want to ask are we on schedule in terms of our commitments for implementing the Sahtu Land Claim Agreement that was have signed on in this agreement and finalized by all governments with the Sahtu people, Mr. Chair? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Premier.