Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Members, for your comments. Perhaps the best approach is to address each of the comments raised by the individual MLAs.

With regard to relationship with Aboriginal governments and our employees, this is something that we’ve taken as a very important priority. We will be releasing our Aboriginal Engagement Strategy, I think maybe tomorrow. The reason we haven’t released it yet is we were translating into all of the Aboriginal languages. We’ve managed to get that done now. Our whole Aboriginal Engagement Strategy is based on respect, recognition and responsibility. We’re going to follow that; not only our government, we are also going to have our employees follow that approach. We’ve developed a handbook that we’re hoping to get some feedback from and that we can release. As well, we will be providing public information and providing awareness and public education on Aboriginal rights and treaties so people can understand all of those issues.

With regard to Ottawa, everywhere I go, everybody I talk to, I say wouldn’t it be nice if we could to together in Ottawa to pursue our objectives, and we can accomplish a lot more by doing so. In dealing with Ottawa, I think we have a good relationship with Ottawa. Right now, we are finalizing a Federal Engagement Strategy. We have some very big priorities that we need to work with the Government of Canada to make happen, the issues that you raised.

The Sahtu and how we govern ourselves, the land use framework, this is something that we’re working very hard. We’re working on the Land Use Sustainability Framework. Through Section 6 of the agreement-in-principle we are going to be working with all Aboriginal governments to see how we’re going to work together. I think we are looking at everybody being responsible for their own areas of responsibility but we work together. In our experience, we want to work with all of the MLAs, because we find we have a lot more chances for success if we work with the MLAs and their regions and their constituency and their Aboriginal governments.

Self-government negotiations, I think we’re getting back on track. There were some issues, governance issues, but I think that we’re getting back on track. It is my expectation that in the 17

th Assembly we’ll be signing off on a number of agreements.

Duty to consult, we’re covering that in the Federal Engagement Strategy, so you’ll be able to see what we’re doing there.

Decentralization, I think this is a very sensitive area, because we can’t just go out and start moving positions. We have to have a process. We have to take into account that there are sensitivities with our employees, so we have to have a process where for priorities, for those that don’t move with decentralization. We are working with all the deputy ministers right now to identify potential areas for devolution. The numbers that you quoted, I think if you read the whole report you’ll see it’s not 62 positions. It’s 31 positions, which is still a lot. It gives us a greater chance for success with decentralization because there are more positions. I think that is only a 0.6 percent increase. It’s our expectation that we can work on the plan. We’re going to work with committee and I think that we will work on it over the summer, and I think that we’ll have some idea where we’re going to go in the fall.

With regard to some of the other comments, the program review office, as I said, we’re giving them direction, and with the direction that we give them, if they make recommendations, then we have to deal with the recommendations if it’s going to be useful.

The NGO Stabilization Fund, I think we’ve tightened up the criteria. We put out the requests earlier. We’re hoping to get the money out earlier. It’s a

tough one because the demand is always a lot more than the money we have.

Similarly, with the general services officers, I think we’d like to see more and we’ll continue to try to find this. It’s certainly a good way to get people into the smaller communities.

Devolution implementation, we’ll be working on that and we’re prepared to present at every opportunity to committees.

Forging the Future, I talked about that in the past. We want to continue but we want to put our own brand, the 17

th Assembly brand on it.

Decentralization, as a government, we’re not here to make excuses. We’re here to get things done, so we’re going to be working on that.

With regard to being inclusive, don’t leave anybody behind. We’re reaching out to everybody to find common ground. As I said, in the seven months or eight months that we’ve been here, I’ve met with 21 Aboriginal governments. I’ve had 21 meetings with Aboriginal governments, so we’re reaching out and we’re certainly prepared to build on milestones, and we are going to be responding to your request for an October forum very shortly. Thank you.