Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Prior to discussing the issue on devolution yesterday, there was a press release that was released yesterday afternoon from the Gwich’in Tribal Council that

clearly identifies that they are not supportive of the draft Northwest Territories devolution agreement. Also in the media release was a response to a letter that was written to the Premier back on April 19th which outlined a bunch of items that they’d like the Premier to discuss with them on how the division of powers was going to be looked at, looking at how the sharing of resources and revenues was going to be properly there to address the aboriginal issues, and, more importantly, looking at an agreement that clearly identifies the ability for aboriginal groups to use those resources on items they feel fit.

The most important item is dealing with the future role of aboriginal governments in the Northwest Territories, in particular when it comes to negotiating policies and procedures and also an agreement that clearly identifies how aboriginal lands and Crown lands are going to be managed in the future.

We talk about formulating partnerships with aboriginal governments, government-to-government discussions. Yet again the wool has been pulled over the eyes of the aboriginal leaders in the Northwest Territories by having the Government of the Northwest Territories negotiate directly with the federal government without having aboriginal involvement at the negotiating table actually negotiating these items with the federal government so that we do have an agreement that deals with these outstanding issues and has the best interest of the people of the Northwest Territories at hand. Having an agreement simply for the sake of having an agreement is not the way to go. We have to have the best agreement we can for all parties, whether it’s aboriginal or non-aboriginal, and for the people of the Northwest Territories.

These are issues that have been raised. There are other discussions going on with other First Nations. My colleague from the Sahtu clearly stated that the Sahtu also has questions on this matter. Without having full involvement of aboriginal groups at the table, we will not achieve an agreement that meets the needs of all the people in the Northwest Territories.