Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the Member is reverting back to his previous position as a negotiator on file, and, I mean, I respect the Member’s right to voice his concerns and advocate for the groups. I must say that we all represent communities and we’re elected to a public government and everyone in our communities. None of us are elected by one group specific, although, yes, there are significant people within our communities of one Aboriginal group or another.
Let’s go down the list, Mr. Chair. Norman Wells: two-thirds of that is under royalty regime. The groups that have signed the land claims agreements and the Tlicho self-government share in resource royalties from that two-thirds. In fact,
the Gwich’in share from the development of the diamond mines, so that goal has been met in that sense. In fact, I believe the Dehcho and part of the interim measures approach actually are qualifying right now for a flow of the resource royalties. Akaitcho and Northwest Territories Metis don’t share in that because in their framework as they have it does not permit for that. In a sense, as the Member has quoted that they shall benefit, well, they are benefitting from the royalty regime in place and, in fact, by this agreement would benefit an additional amount when we negotiate bilateral agreements.
In fact, the Member quotes a couple of sections in agreements. Well, let me quote one: “nothing in this agreement shall prejudice the devolution or transfer of responsibility or powers from the Government of Canada to the Government of the Northwest Territories.” That language is written in the Tlicho Agreement, 2.4.1, the Gwich’in Agreement, 3.1.10, and the Sahtu Agreement, 3.1.9. The Inuvialuit Agreement carries a similar provision of 20.(1). Devolution was considered in all of those discussions where we have settled claims and is considered in future discussions as well. But short from negotiating out our own interpretations of things here, what we’ve tried to do in all of this and the role of Aboriginal Affairs in this process is to ensure that we are honouring the land claims agreements, and I believe we have done that. We continue to inform departments of the need of following the consultation framework that we’ve put in place and, in fact, the Department of Justice, as I spoke earlier, is taking that over and will be carrying that workload as we go forward.
It is, I know, a sensitive area and it is fraught with complexities and opinions on what was done or not done. Clearly, as the Government of the Northwest Territories side, we have, I believe, honoured the commitments as we go forward. In fact, in the language of shall be involved, well, in fact, to help write the agreement-in-principle by most parts as we went forward. In fact, there is a seat at the table going forward if they choose to do so. The ability to consult, in fact, if it’s declined, it’s declined because they choose to decline not because they have been overlooked or omitted by a process by the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.