Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Deline Land Corporation and the Deline First Nation whose members have voted to ratify the Deline Final Self-Government Agreement.

For Deline, this is the culmination of 18 years of negotiations. This is an historic moment for the Sahtu Dene and Metis of Deline.

The Deline Final Self-Government Agreement is the first community-based self-government agreement in the Northwest Territories to be negotiated in a region that has an existing land claim agreement.

Now that Deline has ratified their self-government agreement, the Government of the Northwest Territories will begin its consideration on ratifying the final agreement.

In the coming weeks and months, I will look forward to bringing the final agreement through the Government of the Northwest Territories ratification process. The Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to bringing the ratification process to completion in a timely manner.

I would like to acknowledge the work and dedication of the Deline self-government negotiating team in reaching this milestone, and thank the ratification committee for their work overseeing and conducting the ratification vote.

Northerners speaking and deciding for themselves has been a major priority of this government, Mr. Speaker. It is one of the principles behind devolution and one of the principles that we can see at work in this decision by the people of Deline.

A strong territory is founded on strong northern governments working together. This week the people of Deline have chosen a new, stronger role for themselves in our territory. I invite all Members to join me in congratulating them and I look forward to working with them and all community and regional Aboriginal governments to achieve our vision of a prosperous and sustainable Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.