Thank you, Mr. Minister, for that because I think it’s those types of efforts that will eventually see the land claim agreement fully implemented and, more importantly, see the benefits that can flow from those agreements. If we really take the time to realize the important segments of those different agreements regardless if it is forestry, park management or looking at wildlife management or even looking at the whole area of land management. At the end of the day, those agreements basically, if anything, should be enhanced in the Northwest Territories and make it a better place for everyone, but, more importantly, to let people know exactly what is out there, what the opportunities are and how we can work together.
I think that one thing that I very much have to state is that the aboriginal groups that have negotiated the land claim agreements had to pay for their own negotiators to negotiate that claim. They had to pay back whatever money that they borrowed to negotiate those land claims out of the claim settlement. I think it was somewhere in the range of $50 million that was expended on claims negotiations over 30 years. Those improvements, I know for a fact in the case of the Gwich’in, they agreed to pay one-fifth of whatever the Dene/Metis total was when they negotiated their claim. They paid it back over the implementation of their claim, which I think was almost $9 million. I think it is in those types of understandings...People don’t realize that land claim organizations and the aboriginal organizations had to pay for these negotiations. It wasn’t a freebee. I think a lot of people in the public presume that these negotiations are paid by the federal government. Well, the federal government paid their costs. The aboriginal groups paid their costs. The GNWT pays for their costs. That is negotiations. I think, at the end of the day, in regards of what the outcome is, that the negotiations, there is a question of give and take.
Everybody didn’t get what they wanted. Everybody didn’t walk away at the end of it all knowing that there were no winners or losers. If anything, everybody was a winner regardless of what the outcome was.
Again, I am just wondering if there is a possibility if…I know that you have these different aboriginal committees in place but also have a system in place that Aboriginal Affairs works with the different government agencies and educate them on exactly what is in the different agreements. I know I raised a question about the Gwich’in Territorial Park. There was some miscommunication. Somebody thought I was talking about the Gwich’in MOU. I was talking about a Park Management Plan that was established for that park. There was part of the Park Management Plan that included an implementation plan that would identify what phases of construction was going to take place and what the cost was to implement that. I would like to ask the Minister exactly what is the role that the Aboriginal Affairs plays in educating the different government departments in regards to the rights and obligations that are under the claim and the government’s responsibility to implement those sections or understand those sections. Thank you.