This is probably a better question posed to the Minister of ITI, but the position across the government has been to try to keep as much of the work local. Try to use the contractors and businesspeople in the communities to develop and improve the market. Negotiated contracts and sole-sourced contracts are not only restricted to land claim traditional areas, it’s used across the board as a tool to stimulate the economy and keep the companies in the different regions.
The difference is, I guess from my standpoint, that in a number of areas that have settled land claims, there is an MOU, there is an economic chapter that we have to abide by and it really spells out and makes it more specific as to the conditions. It also includes, in most cases, a mandatory review every year to look at how many contracts, talk about the percentages, see if it’s working right or not working right, sets targets that we as a government have to work towards, and it usually requires us to provide
advance notice to the different governments. It also usually spells out who is a qualified contractor or the list of aboriginal contractors that fall under that land claim.