The Premier is correct on the partnerships and I guess he’s looking at the different aspects of the Gwich’in, Inuvialuit, Sahtu, and how to work with them. When in Rome do as the Roman’s do sort of concept. I’m looking at the GNWT and I guess that’s how it will be done. It has to happen with the Akaitcho or the Dehcho, even in Yellowknife – there’s a large population here – Hay River, I guess, looking at those types of support for communicating the Devolution Strategy. I look forward to the draft communications strategy and I’m pressing to him to say yes, okay, we can maybe look at something like that, but he’s going to stay consistent with his draft communications strategy. That’s okay. I’m looking to see if there’s some flexibility, but it doesn’t seem to be getting to that point there. I’m going to leave it at that. I’ll see if I can use a different angle some other time and get to the Premier’s mind there.
I want to say that my other question is, with the devolution, will we have enough time to do the communication? Are we giving it enough time? There are still people in my communities who do not understand devolution. I understand, you see, if given dollars and whatever they do in the Sahtu with that money, it’s theirs, but I’m still getting people who are saying, but what is it? It might be a few people who understand but not the common folk that is based in the community and doesn’t go out too much. It might be our political leaders that are, and we really can’t tell them how to do their job. I do not want to assume that everybody knows, just because we give them the money that everybody knows. I hope our government doesn’t make that mistake by assuming that this is what’s happening. That’s what I’m mostly referring to.
When I was a negotiator in the Sahtu Land Claim we went door to door as chief negotiator in all five Sahtu communities. We voted on our land claims, with 97 percent in favour of settling our land claim. That’s what I want to press the point to the Premier, that communication, what he’s saying is key to having this deal and people saying yes, I understand it. That’s what I wanted to remind the Premier here. It’s a good deal. People should be celebrating when we sign the finalized deal, not asking any more questions. That’s what I go by. Mahsi cho.