Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to advise that the consultation has been completed. We have confirmed a date to come back to the standing committee to report on the results of the consultation as per the direction we received from committee. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As usual, I need to be a little more specific with my dates to get it into my head. The Minister mentions a date, but whether that is in 2010 or 2011, I would like a little bit more specific information of when that date might be, please. Thank you.

My understanding is we have a date that’s been confirmed for the first week of March. I don’t have the exact date, but it’s one of those dates between March 1st and the 5th . Thank

you, Mr. Chair.

That’s great to hear that. I would just like to know, once the information has gone to committee, is it the intention of the Minister to publish the results of this consultation to the general public? Thank you.

We would follow policy review convention and it would be referred to a committee, whatever the process is. We’ve already done all the consultation. All the stakeholders are aware of what is being proposed, so we would follow the policy convention of the government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the Minister, I think. That wasn’t totally clear, but I’ll follow up when the briefing comes down.

I wanted to ask a question with regard to support for Avalon, the company Avalon and the potential for establishing a secondary industry for processing within the NWT for Avalon Rare Earth Metals. I know that the company has been speaking with the government. I believe they have been speaking with ITI. I just want to know from the Minister whether or not the conversations the government is having with the company are going to...if we are entertaining all options and if we are aggressively looking to keep this particular secondary industry within the NWT and trying to avert any possibility of them fleeing and taking their operation to the South. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We’re doing a number of things with regard to value-added. We are undertaking a review of the competitiveness of the Northwest Territories and we would be looking at competing jurisdictions, because Avalon has told us that they are looking at different locations, not only in the Northwest Territories but also in Alberta and Saskatchewan. So we will be looking at the different jurisdictions.

We’re also planning with our colleagues from DIAND, or CanNor I guess is the more appropriate term, a value-added workshop so that we can determine how we can best support it. Specifically it has been reported in the media about what Avalon is looking for, is power in the Pine Point area, and we are examining what the barriers are. So the question becomes how much are we prepared to contribute in order to maximize the benefits to the Northwest Territories.

With regard to the secondary diamond processing, for example, when we first set up the value-added there we put up loan guarantees for the different manufacturers and more recently we’ve been told to move away from that. So what we’re doing is establishing what it would take to provide incentives for Avalon to set up their secondary processing in the Northwest Territories. So at the appropriate time we would come back and seek support as to what our government would have to do in order to do exactly what the Member has said, to keep the company here and operate in the North. We would say, okay, well, this is what it would take to get them to stay and I guess we would make a conscious decision at that time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks for that explanation. I’m very glad to hear that. It sounds as though we are being very positive about wanting to keep this industry here. Judging by the information that I’ve been given, this is a long-term mining project and one that’s going to benefit our Territory, particularly the South Slave for a long time to come. So I think we need to do as much as we can to encourage this industry to locate themselves within the NWT as opposed to outside.

The last time we got information from Avalon there was a bit of a suggestion that they haven’t really had a lot of meetings with either the department or with the Minister and they sort of gave me the suggestion or the interpretation that they sort of felt that we didn’t really want to talk to them, that we didn’t really want to keep them. So I just would like to know from the Minister, are there plans to get in touch with these guys sooner rather than later and to keep the dialogue open and to communicate early and often, as they say. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I can assure the Member that we have regular interactions with Avalon; our regional staff interact with them almost on a weekly basis. I myself meet with them at every opportunity. The last time I met with management of Avalon was at the Cordilleran Roundup in Vancouver and they do have representatives here in Yellowknife as well. So we have the opportunity to meet with them on a regular basis. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the Minister. That’s all I have.

Thank you. Next on the list I have Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to talk about the traditional economy. I want to ask the Minister about the support for traditional economy. There are several suggestions that were coming from Deline in terms of having the elders and trappers take out some young people to pursue this traditional economy and to support them. I think there were some programs, I’m not too sure, but it was something that they were telling me that it wasn’t enough, they want to continue on this here. Is there something like that within the budget here for supporting the traditional economy in regard to the trapping industry?

Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do have a whole host of programs that are available and also we work in very close partnership with other departments and other Ministers. So, for example, we work very closely with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and Municipal and Community Affairs and also we’ve even had the federal government provide funding on occasion. So the communities that have been most successful in getting the youth to become

interested in trapping or being exposed to trapping are the ones that have involved almost the whole community. They bring in elders and so on to work with the youth on these projects. So we’re quite pleased with the Take-a-Kid Trapping Program and I would think that that would be the venue to have the elders participate. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Minister.

I should point out, also, that through the Minister of Youth, they are also involved in this Take-a-Kid Trapping Program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I know that small communities that rely on trapping people have gone out trapping for a good portion of their lives, these elders, and certainly there are some young trappers who also want to be part of that lifestyle. I agree with the Minister that there are programs that contribute to trappers in the Northwest Territories. Just in saying that, I wanted to ask the Minister about the Trapper Training Program. I’m not too sure if it quite goes with the youth trapping, but I could be wrong. It was just something that they were asking that, you know, we have a group of trappers, but maybe six trappers want to take out some youth and go out there for a month or two months, but not a one-time, but have it on a continuous basis throughout the year. There’s different trapping seasons, I guess, and they want to use that. That’s what they were asking. So they do appreciate it, they just say that we wish the government would put this or redirect or allocate some funding from the budget to do this in a way that they know they will have success with the youth there.

We have a bit of flexibility in the program, so our regional office has worked closely with the schools and I think that’s where the flexibility comes in. I know some of the communities, the teachers go out so the kids or the youth can also learn while they’re out there. So if a group of trappers want to get together and bring youth out, I’m sure it could be worked out. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I appreciate the comments from the Minister about the flexibility on this issue. I do agree with the Minister that some of the teachers in some of the smaller communities certainly enjoy getting out on the land with elders and learning about different cultures and that, and they appreciate being in the community. It sure makes a big difference for them to live in our community. They know that they’re taking a risk by going out, but they’re also learning a lot from the people. So I do want to thank the Minister for that.

Mr. Chair, the suggestion by the Minister about the flexibility in the programs I will relay back to my region and I hope that we can have some good discussions with the staff in terms of the flexibility.

They did bring up the issue of the high cost of gasoline in the small communities in terms of going out on the land and that, and sometimes that brings down the amount of money that they want because the gas is high. So I think that’s something they want to have some discussion about, but I take the Minister’s words very seriously and I will go back to my region and see what can be done for supporting our trappers.

Thank you. Yes, I would certainly support that, working with the region. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Anything else, Mr. Yakeleya? Economic diversification and business support, operations expenditure summary, activity summary, $20.599 million. Agreed?

Moving on, activity summary, economic diversification and business support, grants and contributions, grants, $560,000.