Thank you. Page 4-18, Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, information item, negotiations, active positions.

Thank you. Page 4-21, Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, activity summary, implementation, operations expenditure summary, $694,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. Page 4-22, Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, information item, implementation, active positions. Are there any questions? Mr. Bromley.

Sorry, Mr. Chair, what page are we on?

Page 4-22.

Just in respect to land use plans which are part of the implementation process after settlement, where are we at? I know we got pretty close with the Sahtu. Has that been finalized? If we could just get a little update on the various regions

on where we’re at with the land use plans. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Premier McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Gwich’in Land Use Plan has been finalized and been in place for some time now. The Sahtu has not been finalized but it is very close. I think there are only a couple of issues to be sorted out. The Dehcho Land Use Plan, we are going to take a renewed effort to have that finalized and work with the Dehcho First Nation on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, the Tlicho, I know that they have a five-year window and I think it’s extended well beyond that. Has that been finalized? Thank you.

Mr. Chair, sorry, I forgot to mention Tlicho. They are still working on that one as well. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, with devolution and the transfer of responsibility for managed lands, I believe through the Land Use Sustainability Framework, I think we see that as the way forward to more fully embrace land use planning and we will be working towards that. We are also, with devolution and the organizational design, looking at having a lands department that would help facilitate that as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I guess it’s difficult to know until we get further along on this, but I saw principles and so on in the Land Use Sustainability Framework, but when it comes down to dealing with people’s land and what they perceive as their land, it’s another kettle of fish. I appreciate that this is a general approach. I think if we give a lot of attention to this that we should be able to make some progress. It’s still a pretty general approach and I hope we can work on… Again, we’ve talked about this since early in the 16th Assembly that I am

aware of, but it would be great to see some interim because, again, as we have discussed, there are still some big barriers out there for resolving situations in a big part of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

I guess the other way forward we see it is with devolution and with greater

use of northern tools to make advances in different land issues. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. This is a phrase I’ve heard more often recently and I have constituents coming to me and asking what it means. There’s a lot of confusion about what northern tools refers to. So could we just take a moment? That would be very useful if I could get some idea about what we mean by northern tools. Thank you.

Thank you. The new Wildlife Act that a legislative proposal has gone forward, there’s provisions for northern tools. Also, as part of the Intergovernmental Council it was described under Chapter 6 of the AIP, and I think there will be opportunities there as well. Thank you.

Thank you. I know that with organizations and partnering governments there is some confusion about that. So to the extent that we can lay that out and be specific when corresponding or whatever, I’m getting the impression that would be very useful. This has been useful for me and I’ll be taking a look at these agreements as they come to fruition and educating myself on it. But thanks for those comments. That’s all I had. Thank you.

Thank you. We’ll do that and as we flush out our thinking in more detail, we’ll also make sure that the public is more aware of it. Thank you.

Thank you, Premier McLeod. Committee, we are on 4-22, which is active positions, implementation. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. One point that Mr. Bromley made mention to is the Sahtu Land Use Plan. The Premier talked about that specific land use plan and I spoke to the board and member for the Sahtu Use Plan and March 5th was

the 30-day time period for feedback to the final draft of the Sahtu Land Use Plan. I’m very curious as to a couple of issues that need to be worked out with the GNWT before it goes to the Cabinet for final approval, and the SSI would also be needing to give its final approval. Once the final approvals of both governments, then they ship it over to the federal government for their blessing and signing off and we would have a Sahtu Land Use Plan similar to the Gwich’in, which will be finalized. So I want to ask Mr. Premier if he thinks that within the life of this government that we’ll have a Sahtu Land Use Plan with the other land use plans also moving up, and that the territorial government will do its utmost best efforts to wrap up some of the issues that the Premier talked about that need to be sorted out? So we’re very much looking forward to it, in light of the oil and gas exploration happening in the Sahtu. So this will bring certainty to development and sustainability of our resources in the Sahtu. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Premier McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The government works together through a Cabinet committee, called Managing This Land, where we bring all the different departments that have responsibilities for land or land management and dealing with land use planning. Right now the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is leading the Government of the Northwest Territories’ internal review of the Sahtu Land Use Plan through a collaborative interdepartmental working group. We do that to make sure that the plan respects the roles and responsibilities that are set out in the various land claims and the MVRMA. We want consistent direction to the government.

I can commit to get back to the Member with more information, but my understanding is that the approving partners are waiting for a decision from the Sahtu Land Use Planning Board as to whether or not we can share the draft final plan for a targeted four-week scan. I will get back to the Member with more detailed information.