I call Committee of the Whole order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, committee would like to consider Tabled Document 261-18(2), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2017-2018 with the Departments of Executive and Indigenous Affairs and Finance. Energy levels and time permitting, Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Does committee agree?

Thank you. Committee, we will consider the document after a short recess.

---SHORT RECESS

I will call the Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 261-18(2), Main Estimates 2017-2018, and to begin with the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs. I will begin by turning to the Minister responsible for opening comments. Premier McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to present the 2017-2018 Main Estimates for the proposed new Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs. This new department, which will come into effect on April 1, 2017 represents the amalgamation of the Executive and Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, two departments which have much in common, face similar challenges, and are significantly interdependent. The April 1st merger was designed to strengthen communications and coordination among functions and, most importantly, to better serve a shared client base.

These estimates continue to support the Government of the Northwest Territories' objective of ensuring a strong and sustainable future for the government and its programs by managing expenditures due to limited revenue growth.

The 2017-2018 Main Estimates total $19.194 million. This amount remains unchanged from the 2016-2017 Main Estimates for the Departments of Executive and Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. Highlights of the department's proposed 2017-2018 Main Estimates include:

• Forced growth of $22,000 for increased software licensing requirements;

• A new initiative of $95,000 to hire an additional government service officer; and

• Reductions of $117,000.

The department's proposed estimates for 2017-18 continue to support the priorities of the 18th Legislative Assembly. Specific activities in support of these priorities include:

• Coordinating and supporting the planning and implementation of initiatives and actions in support of cross-government goals;

• Providing policy, strategic, legislative, and communications advice to support Cabinet and Ministers;

• The conclusion of land, resources, and self-government agreements in a manner that respects the inherent right of self-government and ensures an overall effective, affordable, and workable system of governance, capable of providing an adequate and comparable level of quality programs and services for all Northwest Territories residents;

• The successful ongoing implementation and monitoring of land, resources, and self-government agreements by ensuring all Government of the Northwest Territories obligations within its agreements are met; and

• Constructive and co-operative intergovernmental relations with federal, provincial, territorial, Aboriginal, and foreign governments that are based on mutual respect.

That concludes my opening remarks. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Premier. Do you have witnesses you would like to bring into the Chamber?

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Mr. Premier, would you please introduce your witnesses to committee.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my left, I have Mike Aumond, secretary of the Cabinet and deputy minister of the Executive. To my right, Shaleen Woodward, deputy minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, and Terence Courtoreille, director of Corporate Affairs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Premier. As always, we will begin with general comments. Do we have any general comments from the committee for Executive and Indigenous Affairs? Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I do have some general comments. I guess the thing that I am most concerned about with regard to this new merged department is the progress or lack thereof that we are making on land rights negotiations.

Back on December 9, 2015, when the Premier was running to become the Premier -- I am just going to quote something here. He says, "I propose a joint committee between Regular Members and Cabinet to provide oversight and give direction to our negotiators on files dealing with Aboriginal land and resource agreements. Let's get these land claim agreements completed, all of them, in the life of the 18th Assembly." So those were the words back in December of 2015.

There has been a joint committee that was put together. I know that it does not provide oversight, does not give direction to the negotiators. In fact, when those sorts of things were proposed by the Regular MLAs, they were rejected by Cabinet. This committee has now met a grand total of one time since it was set up, and I am just not sure we are actually moving ahead in a collaborative, constructive way with this.

I know, in the budget last year for Aboriginal and Intergovernmental Affairs, positions were cut, staff positions were cut, and they were directly involved in the negotiations. So, with a diminished capacity, I don't know how we are going to make this deadline of completing them by the end of the 18th Assembly. I note, in the budget this year, that there are five positions out of 46 in Yellowknife that are going to be cut.

There is some sort of movement towards a shared services unit, and I guess I will have questions around that, but it's not clear how that will really increase our capacity and ability to continue with negotiations. I am just not sure how that part of the mandate is going to be accomplished. I have heard good words out of everybody in this Assembly, including the Minister, saying how he wants to move ahead with this, but I think the actions speak louder than the words so far -- or, sorry, the inaction speaks louder than the words.

I do have a couple of other matters that I want to pursue with regard to this new amalgamated department. I am wondering about the future of the Public Utilities Board and, indeed, whether it's the intention of this government to get rid of that body. Also, I have some questions around net metering. It's found in our mandate, that there is to be some new direction, some improvements made to net metering, but nothing has been done to date. There is also some continuing work that is needed on establishing government service officers in all of our communities. There are still some that do not have these important staff people that can serve as pathfinders. I think that is about all I have now in terms of my opening remarks, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. McNeely.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, too, look forward to going through this department to review the resources that are going to be going towards conclusion of the claims in the other parts of our territory and discussing resources and authorities needed to groom the Deline Got'ine Government. One thing is to sign and conclude the agreement. That is only the beginning. The real starts on the implementation of setting up this government similar to ours, here, and to ensure that there are adequate resources to support the implementation of the concluded agreement. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to make a couple of comments, especially in regard to land claim and self-government negotiations.

At the beginning of the 18th Assembly, it was very strongly stated that we needed to put extra efforts in terms of concluded land claim agreements and self-government arrangements, especially with the regions that have outstanding matters that have yet to be resolved, whether it's in the realm of sovereignty jurisdiction or ownership on land rights and resources. That has been ongoing for some time, so I am encouraged to hear those words, and, yet, I remain curious as to some of the constructive milestones that we could achieve.

At this point, I understand that the ministerial special reporter for both Deh Cho and Akaitcho has concluded their report, and I understand that both the GNWT and the federal government are contemplating the next steps. So I am very optimistic that things could move forward and that we might be seeing perhaps the final stretch towards finalizing these outstanding land rights and resources in terms of the negotiations that have been going on for some time. That is not to say it will be easy.

Some positions, whether it's based on positions or interest, are very fundamental. It is rooted in terms of the oral treaties of 1921 or else 1899 Treaty 8, as well, so it goes right back to 1921. In 2021, which is four years from now, it will be 100 years since these regions entered into treaty understanding. The assertion from First Nations is that it was a peace treaty, but, at the same time, governments interpreted that, in the instant of signing the treaty, in that practice, the assertion was that you have ceded, surrendered, and extinguished your Aboriginal title and your treaty rights.

So, you know, therefore the negotiations that we currently have, that have been going on for some time, I'm hopeful that a lot of serious consideration will be made in terms of the negotiations' mandate that could probably see a breakthrough in terms of ensuring that there's fair and equitable arrangements between governments and First Nations people

In some respect, I think lots of people are kind of hoping that things could move forward because it brings a level of certainty in terms of understanding the roles of First Nations and the governments in the development stages of the Northwest Territories. I think it's in all our interests to ensure that those matters are resolved and that we move towards bringing economic wealth to the NWT and I believe those First Nations people want to play a role in that.

So if we reach that plateau of coming to a point where perhaps land claims and self-government arrangements are made with these regions that have outstanding issues, then I think the more it is for the betterment of the NWT.

At the same time, I am quite curious in terms of parties that have signed on to the Devolution Agreement. Through the Intergovernmental Council there have been efforts in terms of striking cooperation agreements with the five regions that make up the NWT, and especially the Indigenous groups or Aboriginal governments that make up the five regions.

It's clearly the intent of, you know, trying to cooperate with the GNWT and First Nations on matters that perhaps could bring some practical results, whether it's housing, whether its social issues within communities. That spirit of cooperation I think has to be held closely to the senior officials, especially the leaders from both sides, that we need to build trust and that relationship has to be stronger.

Bringing some practical or perhaps resolutions to some really hard issues that we're confronted with, especially in the small communities, in terms of whether it's social issues, some of the very deep-rooted fundamental issues such as housing needs to be resolved. I'm optimistic that these agreements that are struck between the GNWT and First Nations groups will be at least making the attempt of breaking new trail and new ground in terms of bringing some solutions to the table.

Those are just some comments that I wanted to share and I look forward to the specific matters of the details that will be reviewed. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Mr. Nakimayak.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I won't double up on what my colleague, Mr. Nadli, had to say, but getting back to self-government negotiations and where each land claiming group stands right now and looking forward. I think we all have similar issues, but also very, very different issues in all of our regions in the territory given the structure of self-government and, as well, how the government relationships are working between each region in the GNWT.

I think as much of a struggle as it is for our regions, I think the Northwest Territories is probably the closest government to work with so many different Aboriginal groups, and I think this gives us an opportunity to not just lead the way in Canada but show that there's sovereignty among Arctic nations that coincide in the Northwest Territories. Mine, definitely being for the furthest north, I see the progress that we're making and I commend both the Inuvialuit and the GNWT for taking the steps together.

For me this is important as we move forward the decisions that are being made by Indigenous groups are going to have a lasting effect and we need to ensure that the wording on these agreements stand strong to who we are. As I mentioned earlier, I won't mention much, but, you know, fostering and creating a sustainable development and building a resilience in our communities is important and the access to basic education is a key as well as housing and all these other things that we've been working towards

Lately, there's been a lot of research and documents that come out from across the territories, and I think we need to use those as a foundation of where we are because in some cases in some provinces or territories that's the only hard data that we have.

Also, when it comes to dealing with Arctic issues, not including northern provinces which are considered Arctic communities and in a case from where we look at from our point of view from the globe where we stand that's not the case. So focusing on our needs is important and I think moving forward I look forward to seeing what the department has to offer in regards of support for the GNWT to provide the best support for Indigenous groups. Even though some of these agreements may be with Canada I think that if we work together we can make a bigger difference. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Nakimayak. Next I have Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just getting to the single-window service centres, the GSOs are really important to all the communities that have them. I know they are part-time but hopefully we could look at possibly -- communities that have a huge workload, for example, whether it's Fort McPherson or Aklavik, larger centres like this, maybe we could go full-time, that would be great.

As you know, having this service for the communities is very important. They help a lot of our elders and people in the community fill out any forms. As you may know, every year the elders have to fill in their home heating subsidies and need help with their taxes and all this, so they really do a good service to the communities and it would be nice to see some of the larger places going full-time in the future here. It is a good program that I hope continues over the years.

You know yourself, the department has won a few awards for offering this service and I sure hope this continues. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I think my colleagues have spoken very, very well on this and on the achievements of the department today.

One thing, we are, of course, looking at a brand new department of the Executive that is now merging with previous Aboriginal Affairs, and I do want to commend the name change, Executive and Indigenous Affairs, bringing our language terminology in line with the new national standard, which I think shows a great deal of respect and sympathy towards Indigenous peoples across the country and of course here in the Northwest Territories. I think there will still be some terminology to work out within government policies but this is a welcome shift towards modernizing our language towards reconciliation.

I also want to talk about GSOs, but in a different context. I really like this model of service-oriented government support for communities. It's an award-winning service and it should be in our larger centres as well. I know the Premier is well aware of this, and so is the department, I'm sure, as that is something I bring up often, but we really need to start figuring out how to get this done.

Many of my colleagues, the honourable Members who represent Yellowknife ridings, are constantly doing that kind of work, the GSO work, and also colleagues from regional centres as well, and it would be helpful if our constituents as well could benefit from the same resources that a single point of entry to accessing the government services can provide. You know, it's not enough just to say we have headquarters in Yellowknife so it's easy to get help; it can be incredibly complicated and many people need integrated support services. Whether they're trying to open a business or get support for complex social needs or even fill out registration forms, that kind of help is really required, and particularly for the many seniors we have in our communities.

So I do think that as much as we can point to this department as one that has experienced a lot of success in that program and other programs. There is still work to do and not a lot of drive to do it at current, so we still need to take action on making our government a service-oriented government that puts the priority of how government programs affect people and can be accessed.

The Indigenous rights agreement side, I think that is another way we can move forward, especially combining it with Intergovernmental Affairs so we can develop a cohesive approach with our federal and territorial partners and Indigenous government partners. So these are all good things.

I do caution, though, that we are looking at a very new org chart with a very different structure than previous, and where when Indigenous Affairs was a separate department there was perhaps more of an ability to take a focused approach to that work and report directly to a Minister responsible who is often the Premier.

Now, that is going to change, with that position reporting directly to someone inside the public service, and that may have unintended consequences; and I think, again, this is another amalgamation that is driven by cost-savings and not by efficiencies.

I think we are beyond the point where we can debate whether or not that is a good idea, but we certainly can hold the government accountable to the decision to do this amalgamation and we will be watching. Hopefully, it will provide the kind of fast tracking to some of these policy areas that this amalgamation is supposed to improve.

So I have my concerns, but we will see how they roll out in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Vanthuyne.