Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just a final question to the Minister. I think he mentioned that there is an upcoming language symposium here in Yellowknife. What are the goals of the symposium and at the same time how did the department effectively…(inaudible)…

The language symposium is scheduled for next week. My colleague Mr. Nadli will be co-chairing with me on this. The expectation is, we want to hear from the general public, the experts in the field to give us direction, to give us guidance. We are going on the next phase of Aboriginal Language Secretariat on the long-range plan. We want to hear their input. Right now we’re at the first phase of the Aboriginal Language Secretariat. It’s just a basic approach and then we want to take on the second phase. That’s why we need their expert advice and recommendations on what we should be focusing on. Those are the expectations that we want to hear from the general public and also the professionals in that field.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad to hear from the Member that she supports devolution. I’m not sure where the conflicting information is coming from because I’ve been very clear in what I’ve been saying.

We have a communications and engagement plan. The plan focuses on engagement with three key audiences, following conclusion of negotiations of the Northwest Territories Land and Resources Devolution Agreement. We will be meeting with stakeholders and communities, Aboriginal governments who are not parties to the agreement, and Aboriginal governments who are parties to the agreement. What we will be scheduling will be community information sessions. Before the agreement is approved and signed by the participating governments, it will be shared with Aboriginal governments, stakeholders, and the public to explain its contents and benefits.

This period of public engagement and Aboriginal consultation is expected to take up to 60 days. Once the engagement phase is complete, the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Government of Canada and participating Aboriginal governments will decide whether to approve the agreement. Signing, the approving governments will finalize the agreement by signing it in a public ceremony. If devolution is agreed to, implementation will occur.

I want to make it clear that negotiations have been completed. This is take it or leave it. We will be explaining it to the public. There is no opportunity to go back and renegotiate a bunch of changes, if that’s what is put forward. If there is a groundswell of opposition, as the Member put it, then we won’t sign the deal and there will be no devolution. I expect there will be little incentive for the federal government to come back and start a whole new process of negotiation.

I want to thank the Premier for that very thorough response. I would hope that might maybe be posted somewhere so that people will be able to go and read it, if they haven’t heard it here.

The Premier has been very clear. Several times he has said it’s a done deal. I think that’s where I am finding it a bit conflicting. If it is a done deal, why are we bothering to go out and consult?

I’d like to know from the Minister, then, just for clarification, for those people who are not represented by an Aboriginal government, there’s public engagement. If I have a conflicting opinion, if I wish to see any changes, I think I heard the Premier say that’s not possible. Is that correct?

No, I didn’t say that we expect no conflicting opinions. We’ve heard a lot of conflicting opinions, even here in this House. I’ve also said that we were going to put it to a vote here in this Legislative Assembly. If you have a conflicting opinion, you can tell us when we have our team going around to all the communities or you can tell your MLA.

So I guess the next question I have is: What is the Premier’s, what is the government’s expected outcome from this public engagement and consultation that is going to happen over the next two months?

Well, in an ideal world we would educate everybody in the Northwest Territories about the draft Devolution Final Agreement and we would have the comfort of knowing that everybody supports it and everybody would vote here and pass it.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Premier. That’s a good expectation. I expect that we won’t have a groundswell of support against devolution. I think there is general acceptance and people are very happy about devolution. I guess if there’s no opportunity for people to suggest changes to the agreement and if the Premier is willing to put it to a vote for Members, can I ask the Premier why he was not willing to put it to a vote through a plebiscite to the general public?

Well, I’ve said it before that we are the elected leaders of the Northwest Territories. We are here to represent the people of the Northwest Territories. I think we should stand up and be counted. I don’t think we should be running a government by plebiscite or by referendum.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Much has been said about devolution today, including my Member’s statement on the protection of Aboriginal rights. I’d like to ask the Premier and the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, as well, about devolution and their definition of Aboriginal rights as it applies to the Devolution Agreement. My

constituents include the Dehcho First Nations, which has an unsettled claim. Maybe from that perspective to see how their rights will be protected in this devolution deal just for the public’s digestion, as it were.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

In a normal situation, when it comes to treaty and Aboriginal rights, we have a duty to consult just like the Government of Canada does. With regard to devolution, we don’t feel that there is a requirement for us to have duty to consult because it’s our position that devolution does not infringe on treaty or Aboriginal rights. We have a significant amount of non-abrogation clauses that ensure we don’t infringe on Aboriginal treaty rights. To make sure that we are very cautious, to make sure we don’t miss anything, we will be doing our consulting with Aboriginal governments and making sure we adhere to our duty to consult requirement.

I’m sure part of that consultation process will be approaching the Dehcho and Akaitcho First Nations. What does the Premier see in laying out the assurances that devolution won’t abrogate or derogate any Aboriginal rights that they might be negotiating currently at this point?

We are still finalizing our draft communications and engagement plan, and our expectation is we will share it with committee. The principle is that when we go to the regions where the Aboriginal governments have not yet signed on to devolution, I expect that we will go to their communities with some representatives of the Dehcho First Nation Government and the Akaitcho First Nation Government. We have done it before so we would do it again. They’re the best governments to tell us and make sure we don’t infringe on any rights.

How long would our government consult or work with the unsettled claimant areas like the Dehcho and Akaitcho to have them be part of the devolution of the lands and resources to the Northwest Territories?

I think it will become very clear as soon as we finish our legal and technical review and we make that draft agreement public. It won’t be for an unlimited period of time. It will probably be a very short period of time, probably a year at the most, I would suspect. We’re still finalizing that part. Sometime before the end of this week you should know the answer.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I know that the Aboriginal groups that have signed on will get some money to help them to do that same kind of consultation work. What will

be available to the Dehcho and/or Akaitcho to help them understand devolution as well?