Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to say to the people in my region and to a lot of people in the Northwest Territories who contacted me over the last couple of months, I’m certainly glad to be alive today.

---Applause

I want to express my appreciation to the people who have made phone calls to me, who have talked to my wife. I really listened to some of the Members who made condolences to some of their own constituents who have passed away and people who have passed away in the past, and certainly my own people in the Sahtu region, of some of the difficulties that we as people go through when a loved one passes away.

Yet we still have a job to do. We still have to stand there and hold it together and continue on and make decisions. Sometimes, when I saw the anguish and the hurt in my wife’s face or my little boy’s face, I was really scared. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I guess the big guy upstairs didn’t want me today, because he said, go back down there and do some more work. That’s the way I look at it. Or someone saying, I’m glad we’re not talking about you, we’re still talking with you.

These kinds of things wake me up in terms of how life is taken for granted sometimes. I look at that and I wanted to say to the people of the Northwest Territories, we really appreciate the phone calls and the prayers that the elders said. Prayers are so powerful today that when I went into my region, I wanted to thank the elders and the people who came up to me and said, we prayed for you, we prayed for you things would work out well for you, we also prayed for people in our meetings that things will work out good for them. There are people right now in the hospital that need our prayers and we need to think about those situations.

I want to say thank you to the hospital and the wonderful staff in the Northwest Territories and Yellowknife for really helping me out here and helping my family. Also for the Members here I wanted to also say I appreciated the time off to recover. However, I want to also say that life goes on. I’m back up in good form again and going to be representing my people in this Assembly, hopefully for a long, long time to come.

I want to say I really appreciate my family and I really appreciate especially my little boy.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. I’m sure I speak on behalf of all Members when I say we’re happy to be talking with you and not about you as well.

The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Mr. Speaker... [Translation] I am pleased to be able to talk to you today on things that are very important to my region. We have to work with all the people that are coming after us, so we have to talk seriously and consider our devolution seriously. I will be switching back to South Slavey. [Translation ends]

…resources to the GNWT are of great importance for my constituents in my riding of Nahendeh. Much can be said and there are many topic areas. However, the leadership in the communities of the Dehcho First Nations have great concern because of the uncertainty of how it will affect the Dehcho process.

As I travelled throughout my riding there were many questions of the impact of our GNWT signing the AIP, and I must say as well that there were many that understood the process and what it means for them and for all Northerners. However, I found that there were more people concerned at the speed of the signing and not having any information on the implications of the AIP until after its signing. There were also many concerns about the terms of the agreement itself. Sometimes our government has initiatives that could be a good thing, but if there’s enough public outcry or if it’s implemented badly, then it can be a bad thing.

Mr. Speaker, people in my communities want to see government travel around to the communities and explain this agreement-in-principle on devolution. People cannot make informed decisions, Mr. Speaker, if our government does not provide the opportunity and information, especially something as significant as this. I have noted that the Wildlife Act information sessions went to all 33 communities, and I believe that a decision of this magnitude that binds us for the future must get outside of Yellowknife and into all our communities. It is then and only then that people can be truly informed and make an informed decision, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I speak today on the process that led to the devolution agreement-in-principle to take stock of where this

leaves us now and consider where we go from here.

The Akaitcho and Dehcho governments will have nothing to do with an agreement they say threatens their treaty rights and resolution of their claims. Some say the process used to complete the AIP violates the terms of the Gwich’in, Sahtu and Tlicho agreements. The GNWT’s and Canada’s rush to sign the AIP has resulted in such confusion that concerns about content, process, or both remain unclear. Aboriginal opponents say the GNWT should never have agreed to negotiate without the First Nations at the table, while our government claims they were meaningfully involved all along, implying that Aboriginal partners were aware of and accepted negotiation points.

Yet we signed onto a federal divide and conquer strategy, a bilateral agreement that clearly does not sit well with our partners. At the very least, such a strategy reflects poorly on this government’s relations with its Aboriginal partners. If they were at the table and involved, how could we have created a situation where some of the fiercest critics that this government has, say that this government has destroyed trust and partnership that has taken years to build? That’s where we are now; right where we knew we’d be if we’d went ahead with this agreement in this way.

But what lies ahead? I and many others are on record saying that any deal to download an inadequate, underfunded and unrepresentative federal system is a bad deal. To move forward on a sound basis, we must do three things: first, go back to the basics with our Aboriginal government partners, insisting upon the full, main table participation their position deserves and salvage some mutual respect and common vision for the future; second, cut ourselves loose from any federal scheme to settle our constitutional future piecemeal; and finally, Mr. Speaker, take the time necessary to involve all our citizens in meaningful consultation on what our resource management regime should be.

Mr. Speaker, Aboriginal governments are major landholders and, as such, an essential partner of a sound, comprehensive and sustainable NWT land and resource management system. Before we have an agreement-in-principle we must all agree on the principles. I look forward to seeing this resolved in the immediate future. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like many of my other colleagues, I too will be speaking about the AIP devolution agreement today.

This agreement signed, I believe, is a great forward-thinking step in the destiny of all Northerners. It’s about many things, but in my view, it’s most importantly about one thing: it’s about the transference of authority to Northerners. As northern people, we are ready to claim that future. This is about who is guiding the course of our future collectively. It’s about who is making the decisions of the northern future.

I’d like to see someone in the North making those types of decisions, rather than someone in Ottawa who’s never been here more than for a day visit. Or even worse, can you imagine our decisions to be continued to be made by a steward whose only knowledge of the northern people, the culture and the belief system up here is based on a one-page briefing note?

The North has a destiny to assert, Mr. Speaker. One of the many people that feel very strongly and who I constantly hear from are Aboriginal people who want to assert the destiny of the North together, collectively. I think this government needs to do whatever it can to ensure that they continue to be partners as we assert this future together. But it’s a mandate we must not work alone.

Mr. Speaker, the signing of the AIP was one of many small steps going forward, but the motions of those steps were put into place over 40 years ago. The shaping of our North will continue over many more years going forward and this AIP is just one small piece. Some people say not this deal. Well, I’ll tell you, it took a long time to carve out this deal. So it won’t take weeks, months; it will take, rather, years or decades before we get back into the same position we are today.

Mr. Speaker, some people complain there isn’t enough money. Well, the reality is no devolution agreement will ever have enough money.

Some say they were not included, not all issues, not all rights. Well, I say you should never give up on the priorities of all Northerners. So once we conclude this chapter, we should start fighting and working on the next one. We should never surrender on the rights and the destiny to empower Northerners.

Mr. Speaker, the issue here before us is uncertainty; the details of clarification of what’s actually been happening. Mr. Speaker, if there’s been fault to this whole process, it is that the message of communication has not gone out to every corner of the North to explain what this agreement does for our lives and how it improves it. Mr. Speaker, in my belief, this agreement does not

impede our future, it strengthens it. Mr. Speaker, that is the solution of this AIP, and I believe much work needs to continue to be done on this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to speak today about devolution and the recent signing of the agreement-in-principle.

Mr. Speaker, this is and will be the way forward for this Territory and for the people who live here. What will devolution mean for our Territory? It will mean authority and control over the direction and decisions related to resource management. It will mean a transfer of close to 200 jobs from Ottawa. It will mean that finally, after years of fighting for a piece of our vast resource wealth with the federal government, we will be getting millions of dollars annually to help build and strengthen our Territory, our communities, our economy and our people. We will finally be able to be the masters of our own design.

Mr. Speaker, we must continue to work with our Aboriginal partners in pursuing a final agreement. I understand and appreciate the concerns that have been expressed by Aboriginal leaders across the Territory in how our AIP has proceeded. I do remain optimistic that we can find a way to work together. We have to move forward, and it should be stated that clearly this AIP is moving this Territory forward. The question, Mr. Speaker, is that once we have a final deal, the jobs, the money and the authority, what are we going to do with this new found money and control?

Mr. Speaker, I, along with my colleague from the Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko, have been part of the Northern Leaders’ Forum representing the Regular Members of this House. The main objective for the Northern Leaders’ Forum is to come up with a way forward on how governments across the Territory can work together and represent our Territory in advancing our collective well-being and to form a common vision for what our Territory will become. Now, more than ever before, Mr. Speaker, we need to be working together. We need to do the best job we can as legislators to articulate what devolution will mean to our Territory. To me, Mr. Speaker, this is what future governments must focus on: sustainable, responsible resource development that maximizes opportunities for training and employment opportunities for our people; developing our vast hydro potential; developing in a real and meaningful way our forest industry; opening up our Territory to the development of the Mackenzie Gas Project and the huge potential for exploration and development of our petroleum

industry, a Territory that leads the way in the management of our water, our wildlife and our environment.

Mr. Ramsay, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As well, business development, especially in our smaller communities, growing our economy has to be our primary focus, Mr. Speaker, and giving opportunities to our people. We must unlock the potential we have as a Territory and provide these opportunities for the people who live here.

We need jobs, Mr. Speaker. We need a strong economy and we must move forward. I can’t stress it enough that we must find a way to work together. Our fight shouldn’t be with ourselves, it should be with the federal government, and finally we should find the way forward.

Again, I encourage our government to continue to work with the Aboriginal partners across our Territory to find a way forward. This is the right direction, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement as well as many other Members who spoke today, we talked about the uncertainty and the communication plan of this government and how they are reaching out in explaining the AIP agreement to the everyday person throughout the Northwest Territories. My question will be to the Premier of our Territory. How is the Premier making sure that everyday Northerners are understanding truly what this agreement is about? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now that we have a signed agreement-in-principle we will be able to reach out to all our households across the Northwest Territories. We are in the process of developing a householder that can go into the homes to give a plain language overview of the agreement-in-principle. As well, while that is being developed and hopefully once we have a draft copy, we can send it off. It will be a matter of weeks to get that out.

The other side of it is through the radio and using Aboriginal languages interpretation to reach out to our communities through the radio programs that are available to us and reach into the homes that way. We also prepared the media package as we did a technical review of that with the media part signing.

We are prepared to meet with the Aboriginal leadership. In fact, hopefully by later on today the letters will be going out to the regional leaders and the chiefs to see if they are interested in coming together in the first week of March to look at pulling all the people together again to go over the work and look at a way forward as we consider the work that needs to be done in the next phase. Thank you.

Clearly the communication factor seems to be a significant roadblock on this particular issue for people understanding what is happening about the AIP. I know people are trying to form opinions, but, unfortunately, there have been very few, and the few have been very loud, which have caused a galvanization, polar points of views. Mr. Speaker, I daresay the communication plan may be a bit late, so I am kind of worried on how long this particular issue will take. When can the Premier expect to be launching a campaign that reaches out to everyday Northerners to make sure that people know what is happening? Because it has already been at least one week since the agreement has been signed. They need to know. People need to know what it is about. Thank you.

Although the initial public release of the agreement-in-principle wasn’t done by the Government of the Northwest Territories, one of the big things we will do is table in this Assembly the signed agreement. We have begun the process of reaching out to the homes across the North. As well, we will be doing that through the radio programs. I talked about a householder being ready in a matter of weeks, hopefully before the end of this month. We can start the delivery of those to homes. Prior to that, I expect we will be able to deliver through the Aboriginal radio programs what the agreement-in-principle means as well. Not even following up on that, but right now we are reaching out to the regional leadership and

the chiefs to see how they would come to the table and help us in preparing for the next phase. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, what is stopping the government today for reaching out to the local radio stations, whether it is CKLB, CBC or CJCD, in getting out there to get our message out there? Of course, like any campaign and any situation, it is about who gets their messages out first. Unfortunately, I have seen the naysayers campaigning out there loud and strong aggressively. I often wonder if these leaders are just spinning their points of view without giving people a chance to hear what the AIP is from the point of the view of the government. What is stopping the government from doing this in the context of today so we can get radio ads out maybe by Friday, and to the newspapers? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we have done advertisements in the papers for Aboriginal languages. We need to have the document interpreted, the plain language document interpreted so we can get that message out there. That isn’t a simple task to be done and to make sure it is done accurately. We are in the process of doing that. We will get that out as soon as we are able. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.