Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. The Gwich’in Assembly passed a motion last year directing the Gwich’in Tribal Council to make an elders payout for elders over the age of 70 and then also they made a second payment to elders 60 and over to age 69. Mr. Speaker, under the Gwich’in Land Claim Agreement it is pretty clear in regards to these payments not being clawed back by governments, regardless if it is the federal government or the Government of the Northwest Territories. But it is pretty apparent, Mr. Speaker, that those elders, especially the ones 60 and over who depend on income support have had their payments clawed back.

Mr. Speaker, there is a letter written to the Premier and the Minister of Health and Social Services and also a letter to the Department of Education on this matter. I would like to ask the Minister exactly why is it that this government clawed back the elders’ payment to the Gwich’in elders in regards to their portion of income, which was somewhere around $2,600, but again those people weren’t allowed any income support payments or support for the whole month of December because of these payments which they were left without. I would just like to ask: why is the government doing that, knowing that it is an exemption in the agreement?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The clawback has been addressed the last several years now, so we made some changes to our existing programming, the policy that we have in place. After numerous discussions that we had in the Legislative Assembly, the standing committee and the general public, we decided that there was an exemption that was put on the table, a $1,200 exemption on individuals that can qualify. The $3,500 that the Member is referring to, there have been payouts by the organization in the Beaufort-Delta, but we are currently looking into that specific area through the initial justice system to find out what is in the agreement. They are tax exempt as if from land claims money as if from a

business arm, so those are the discussions that we are having currently ongoing. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Under the Gwich’in Land Claim Agreement under Chapter 11, which is the taxation chapter, it clearly states that the Gwich’in Settlement Corporation is exempt from any federal, territorial or local government taxes and similar charges are exempt from the settlement corporation and such. Any capital distribution to elders over the age of 60 years are, therefore, exempt from taxes and other charges, including clawbacks of their income support. So I’d just like to ask the Minister, knowing that that provision falls under the land claim agreement under section 11, which legislation is the government considering in light of this land claim provision, which clearly stipulates that no exemptions would be taken on those type of payments.

Mahsi. Those are the detailed information that we need to address within our Department of ECE, the Department of Justice and the organization itself. When we talk about chapters, there are different chapters where the funding has been allocated. So, certainly, those are areas that we need to look at. The detail of are they tax exempt and if they are what can we do as a department on a going forward basis, we’ve been having this discussion just since the issuance of the $3,500 has been dispersed. So we are in the process of going forward and talking to organizations. Mahsi.

Thank you. I hope that the department and the Minister’s department can try to bring a quick resolution to this, because the seniors, the reason that they did this is because we are losing a lot of seniors and we’re hoping that we can get this money into their hands so that they can at least have an opportunity to spend it and use it to their expense and not have it clawed back. So I’d like to ask the Minister if he can give me some assurance that they will try to remedy this situation as soon as possible. Thank you.

Mahsi. That is what we are currently discussing to look further into the actual agreement itself and our policy. We need to resolve this issue, because it doesn’t only impact in that area but also other land claim settlement areas as well. So we’re being cautious of moving forward. So, certainly, that information will certainly be shared with the standing committee as we move forward. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Hopefully we are able to compensate those individuals who were basically affected by this by way of not allowing them. So I’d just like to ask the Minister if he could somehow work with the Gwich’in Tribal Council and those elders that are affected by the

clawback and see if we can work with them to notify them that there is a possibility of being reimbursed for those loses by way of the clawback. Thank you.

Mahsi. We all depend on the agreement that we have in place, whether it be with the Gwich’in, the Beaufort-Delta, within our GNWT system. So, yes, we are going to continue having those types of discussions and we want to expedite the process so we can come out with a solution. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The situation that has occurred there, one is it’s unfortunate in the sense that we were not able to have Ministers in attendance, but we need to set some of the facts straight in what led up to this.

Mr. Speaker, number one, not all Ministers attended the Gwich’in leaders and the Beaufort-Delta leaders meetings. Both Minister Bob McLeod and Minister Michael Miltenberger were not at those meetings. Two, the request for attendance at those meetings and the request to make presentations on departmental responsibilities were made months in advance so that we could set the time aside for those meetings. For the notice to the Cabinet Ministers of the Dene Assembly, the meetings that were occurring, we can provide Members notice that a notice was received by a number of the Ministers on January 13th and responded to in the

case of, for example, Minister Michael McLeod responded two days after the fact to the organization. Minister Lafferty, the same thing, within a few days responded to the Dene leadership about the invitation. Upon receiving the agenda it was clearly noted that the issues and the requests for ministerial presentations were not on the agenda, and by that time Ministers were well committed to quite a number of meetings beforehand.

In speaking to the Dene national chief, Mr. Bill Erasmus, I confirmed with him that we were prepared to sit down with him and the folks that he would want to on the issues arising from that meeting. As the Members know in this House, we as the Government of the Northwest Territories have stepped up our involvement and meetings with the regional aboriginal leaders and governments to build on a solid relationship. We’re prepared to sit down, given enough advance notice, to set time aside to make the appropriate presentations to aboriginal governments as well. Thank you.

Thank you very much. But the fact remains that no Ministers were in attendance, and for me personally it kind of gauges the importance that our Cabinet gives the Dene National Assembly. So I’m just not clear. I know that we make time for other aboriginal organizations, even cancelling meetings and having an excuse that they need months of planning, it’s just not appropriate there, Mr. Speaker.

Once again, given the importance of the matters being discussed at the Dene National Leadership in Fort Simpson, I don’t know why there was only one department that sent officials. We’ve got to pay more attention to the Dene National Assembly and that’s the frustration that I felt, that’s a frustration the people felt in Fort Simpson. Once again I’d like to ask the Minister why wasn’t more attention by this Cabinet given to the Dene National Leadership Meeting in Fort Simpson.

Thank you. In preparing for whether it’s meetings with aboriginal governments, with provincial governments, with the federal government, there is much advanced time in trying to allocate time and resources and meeting times of Ministers with the appropriate parties. So we are always prepared to sit down and set that time aside, with enough advance notice and that’s the concern here. The notice, the invitations that were given to Ministers, came in in mid-January, a week before the meetings. The commitment was already made by Ministers at other meetings and events, whether it was in this Territory or within the capital or in other parts of the country as well. When you do look at the agenda that was provided to Ministers at that time, the issue of having

Ministers make presentations was not on the agenda as well.

As I said before, we’re committed to working with our aboriginal partners across the Territory, and with advance timing and notice we are glad to make the time available so that we can sit down together and hear what’s being raised, as well as make the presentations from the department responsibilities as well. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I still don’t believe that timing is the issue, but I think the issue for myself and the people at the Dene National Leadership Meeting in Fort Simpson was government’s inattention to the needs and the issues that were on the floor. The other thing, too, is how much time does government spend paying attention to other aboriginal organizations, which is an issue as well. I believe that we’re a consensus style government and that we must pay attention to all aboriginal organizations and governments, and that’s the question I’d like to ask the Premier. How much time do they spend with all our aboriginal organizations? I’d like to see it equally balanced.

The fact that we meet regularly, we’ve had seven regional leaders meetings with the grand chiefs and presidents of the aboriginal governments across this Territory. We just held our seventh meeting in November, in Dettah. In fact, the executive reports that were given at the Dene Leadership Meeting by these grand chiefs and presidents, they were in attendance at our regional leaders meeting. In fact, at our regional leaders' meeting we also had some discussion about the issue of caribou conservation. In fact, I believe our press release may even have touched on that topic. The fact that before this meeting there were numerous meetings held with aboriginal governments and organizations about the issue of conservation of caribou across the Northwest Territories, working with co-management boards.

So the simple fact is we continue to meet with the regional leadership, with aboriginal governments and organizations, and we’ll continue to do that. We’ll work jointly on initiatives, given that we’re provided enough time so that we could make sure that we marshal up the resources to be in attendance.

Thank you, Premier Roland. Your final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

I’d just like to reiterate the point one more time is that when aboriginal groups meet, they want to see the...[English not provided]...they want to see the boss, the Ministers, and I’d like to get the Premier’s commitment that they will evaluate the next Dene Nation Leadership Meeting or any aboriginal leadership meeting and give them that importance and that value and that respect.

We are prepared, as I said, and continue to work with our aboriginal partners across the Northwest Territories and will set the time aside to sit down with them. In fact, we’re working on the next Regional Leaders Meeting to be at the end of March. We’ll continue to work with them. For example, those that made the presentations from the executive reports at that Dene Leadership Meeting, we’re hoping to have all of them in attendance, including Mr. Bill Erasmus, national chief of the Dene Nation.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, want to just follow up with Mr. Menicoche’s questions in terms of the leadership meeting in Fort Simpson with the Dene Nation national chiefs. Listening from the communities, the reception, what I’m hearing is that it wasn’t very good to have our government Ministers not there at a very important meeting with the leadership. It didn’t seem that this government here cared to sit down with the chiefs, to listen to them, especially on the issue of caribou. It was quite volatile. I want to ask the Premier, the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, in terms of leadership meetings such as the Dene Nation Leadership Meeting, is there a policy that at these type of meetings that you’ll have several Ministers at these meetings to listen to the chiefs on some of these important issues.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.