Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In regards to the Premier’s statement I just can’t help myself wondering which groups the Premier is talking about negotiating with regional Aboriginal governments. Are we only talking about the two that signed the agreement-in-principle?

There was a question asked in the House by Mr. Menicoche about trying to fund Aboriginal organizations that have concerns with the devolution agreement and it was pretty clear from

his comments that he will not be funding those organizations. So by asking for money from the House to support negotiations towards a final agreement, who are you going to negotiate the final agreement with, and more importantly, why are we leaving the Aboriginal groups that have not decided to sign and offer them an opportunity to come forward with their issues, negotiate them on a table that we can all sit around and get away from this idea of exclusion by simply not agreeing with the government? That seems to happen in most dictatorships around the world, but it seems like we’re starting one here in the Northwest Territories simply because you do not agree with the position of Cabinet or the government and you are being excluded or chastised for not taking or not participating in government-to-government talks, regardless of whether it’s required or not required. We do have an obligation to consult, we have land claims obligations, we have obligations under the UN Declaration of Indigenous Peoples.

Mr. Speaker, it’s pretty clear, from what I see here, that this government will proceed full speed ahead. Sorry, we’ve signed with two groups, we haven’t signed one agreement with any Dene organization or treaty group in the Northwest Territories who have treaties, regardless if its 1921 or treaties signed in 1998 in regard to Treaty 8. Those are the groups that have treaty rights, land rights. They’re the only group that has a land claim that talks about Northern Accord, it talks about royalty sharing in the Mackenzie Valley. Yet, Mr. Speaker, from what I can read here, it looks like it’s business as normal, nothing’s happened, we’re going full speed ahead and we’ll leave those people on the sidelines.

It is totally pathetic that this government, in this day and age, will continue to operate basically removing from those groups that question government’s position, or question government agreements knowing that they’re not perfect. They do not meet the objective of the land claim agreements and they do not meet the objective of the groups that have made it clear through written concerns, areas of concerns and not allowing for those agreements to even be discussed or considered, which took place over some seven months after a letter was sent to the Premier where the president of the Gwich’in Tribal Council clearly stated at a northern leaders’ meeting back last spring, where the Premier was asked, are you going to respond to my letter. I was there and I heard perfectly clearly, oh, I’ll get back to you right away. That was last spring. It took him seven months to respond to a letter.

Yet we are here approving a budget for a department that wants to go full speed ahead realizing that you have signed an agreement with a minority of Aboriginal groups in the Northwest Territories and yet you call it government-to-government relationships. So I would just like to ask the Premier, from the statement that you made in

regard to your opening remarks, which groups are you talking about negotiating with and do they have to sign the agreement, or can they agree to disagree and bring their issues forward and try to find resolution either between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Government of Canada to find resolution to this issue? Thank you.