Mr. Chairman, the Member is correct that resource revenue sharing is part of the Dene-Métis comprehensive claim process — in that piece. The devolution piece is yet to be discussed, and that, as I was saying earlier, will occur during the self-government negotiations that are continuing across the Northwest Territories. That eventually could open up more avenues for revenues as those discussions happen, more in a sense of when we talk devolution we talk about aid-based transfers, and that is expenditures being made in those areas of delivery to date. Of course, we say that needs to be adequately done as well.
The other process that was originally called the Northern Accord — and now we’ve termed it devolution resource revenue sharing — yes, was very close to being signed off. I believe it was the late days of the 12th Assembly. Unfortunately, that
did not occur, and that agreement was not signed off and hasn’t been enacted. So all the groups have gone through their processes to try to recapture that in one frame or another. We’ve been involved in the past, working with the federal government and aboriginal governments and organizations in the area of, for example, the intergovernmental fund, working with the federal government and the GNWT, and formed the Aboriginal Summit. That went away, and that’s why now we’re focusing on regional meetings and leadership get-togethers. So that’s what we’re focusing on.
The area you see in the budget is reduced, because there was no clear discussion as to where we were going to go as the Government of the Northwest Territories, no clear direction working with the regional leadership. So we scaled that back until we get a better definition and idea of where we’re going, and then we’d have to come
back to this Assembly for additional dollars in future years.