Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On January 26th of this year the Premier of the
Northwest Territories signed an agreement-in-principle on devolution of public lands and resources to the Government of the Northwest Territories from the federal government.
On February 2, 2011, I held my regular constituency meeting for residents of the Great Slave riding. I hold one prior to every session. One of the issues which was discussed at length during that meeting was the recent AIP on devolution in the Northwest Territories. Clearly, there are many varied opinions out there on this topic. To that end, during the meeting I agreed with a request from one of my constituents to poll my constituents to get a sense of where they stand on this important issue.
As such, immediately after the winter session I set up a poll on my website asking a few devolution-related questions. I notified all of my constituents by way of my regular newsletters and included references on my website and did a public news
release, as well. Although my focus for the poll was on my constituents’ input, I did open the poll to all residents of the Northwest Territories so I could include their thoughts and their input. Here are the questions and the results:
Question one was: Do you support the transfer of management of Crown lands and a share of resource revenue from the federal government to the GNWT and Aboriginal government?
Out of 67 individual responses, 82 percent, or 55, said yes; 18 percent, or 12 people, said no.
The second question was: Do you support the GNWT in moving forward with the negotiations of a final devolution agreement?
Out of 66 individual responses, 42 percent, or 28 individuals, said yes, but make every reasonable effort to include all Aboriginal governments and organizations in the negotiations; 35 percent, or 23 individuals, said yes, commencing with negotiations with the existing signatories; and 23 percent, or 15 individuals, said no.
The third question was: Do you support the GNWT signing a final agreement on devolution?
Out of 71 individual responses, 30 percent, or 21 people, said yes, with the existing signatories; 27 percent, or 19, said yes, with a signed bilateral agreement between the GNWT and the federal government; 17 percent, or 12, said yes, only if at least 50 percent of recognized Aboriginal governments and organizations will also sign; 14 percent, or 10, said yes, only if all recognized Aboriginal governments and organizations agreed to sign on as well; 12 percent, or 9 people, said no.
Mr. Speaker, during the winter session, in response to questions from Members, the Premier agreed to meet with interested parties throughout the Northwest Territories to provide information and clarity on what devolution of public…
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted