I appreciate the commitment of the Minister. Our government did sign this agreement, as well, so we do have some obligations, and this is certainly in the best interest of Yellowknifers now and into the future. There is some urgency to getting this issue sorted out. April 1st is coming up quickly, so I am just wondering how confident the Minister is that we can get the federal government to live up to this agreement and to ensure that all the appropriate funds are available to invest in the Northwest Territories.

I am confident that I can reach out to the federal government. At the end of the day, the decision is theirs. I could try to see if I can secure a timeline for them, but I can't speak on their behalf. I can only commit to what we can do as a government, is to reach out to them. I commit to the Member that I will do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate the commitment from the Minister on that. We know April 1st is coming up quickly. There is a provision in the agreement for dispute resolution. I am wondering, would the Minister be prepared to recommend that the Giant Mine Oversight Board invoke the dispute resolution process under the environmental agreement if we can't resolve this quickly? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will follow up on that and see what tools we have at our disposal to help find a solution for the funding. I will commit to following up on that.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, my colleague the honourable Member for Kam Lake was talking about the user fees and landing fees being proposed by infrastructure, the new potential infrastructure department. They talk about between $8 and $10 million going to be potential new revenue. In regards to the $10 million or this money being proposed to be collected by the new airport fees, how much is this going to be coming from the GNWT's medical travel and GNWT businesses? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Transportation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can get back to the Member with the exact details on it, but I can tell him right off the top between medical travel and business and relocation tickets that were out of Yellowknife, it comes to 3.7 per cent of total travel out of Yellowknife. It is roughly over 10,000 flights. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for his commitment to get back. We are hearing different numbers out there, so it would be really nice to see what the percentage of this is. Mr. Speaker, with a percentage of this money going to the airlines, which we have heard in the news, how long did the department know about this, and why wasn't this part of the information package out to the public as they were promoting this new initiative?

We have known about this all along, that there was a fee charged by the airlines to implement this and a cost associated with them. It is customary right across Canada, as the article said in the newspaper yesterday. I don't believe we have presented it to standing committee or to the public in our presentations, just believing we were focusing on the costs of the airport improvement fee, which was important to get that out there so people know the cost of the southbound and northbound ticket. It was probably our oversight that this part wasn't included in it. That is my explanation on it.

I thank the Minister for that answer. I understand what they were trying to do. I just didn't know this fee existed, and I don't know a lot of people probably did know that. Mr. Speaker, as the honourable Member for Kam Lake spoke about the airline collecting these fees and charging administration fees, has the department agreed to a percentage that the government is going to accept the airlines to do it, or is this something that the airlines actually impose on the government for collecting these fees?

As we move forward, I believe this is something, like I said in the House yesterday, it is something we are keeping a close eye on across the country. If this bill passes in the House, we will definitely get back to committee on what is going on and keep everyone informed on where this process is going.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for his answer. I guess I am just a little concerned that we are not being proactive in looking at this at the very beginning. I understand that the department is trying to get these fees implemented, but there are these hidden costs that people are not aware of and that should be looked at. Is the department willing to look at capping this administration fee at 4 per cent, which is a standard administration fee? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we were moving forward with this and learning more about the whole process, the airlines have argued that there is a financial burden put upon them by collecting this fee. It has been negotiated across the country to remit the airline improvement fee to them and give them a commission on this moving forward. We are well aware of the situation. It is a balancing act, just like anything, if we are going to impose this on the airlines, that they are reimbursed something that is sustainable for them as well moving forward. I wouldn't say it is a hidden fee. It is part of the $20 or the $10 moving south, but that is a fee that is included within that amount, so it is not an additional fee that goes to the customer. We will keep committee informed on that as this moves forward and where we end up on a commission.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Masi. The Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In response to previous questions, I indicated that we were waiting for the Government of Canada to determine how they would approach their endorsement of UNDRIP. As the Member stated, in the United Nations, Minister Bennett indicated that Canada was going to unequivocally endorse the UNDRIP provisions. Subsequent to that, the federal Minister of Justice qualified that statement because we all wondered exactly what the Government of Canada meant. The federal Minister of Justice qualified that to indicate that they endorse the UNDRIP, subject to the Constitution of Canada. That allows us to proceed on that basis. Certainly we will recognize and conduct ourselves accordingly when we work with UNDRIP. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In light of the negotiations that are currently going on, or in terms of some of the outstanding regions that still have to get to the table, the observations from parties has been the land claim policy, which could be perhaps problematic from the parties' perspectives, it depends on what side of the table you are on, but basically the land claims model that the federal Government of Canada is upholding is based on the United States' model, which basically was following the first achievement of a land claim agreement with First Nation people in Alaska then. My question is, in the eyes of the international states, how does the GNWT view a fair and just settlement of land and resource rights for the people in the NWT?

As we have indicated, we have a ministerial special representative that is working on behalf of the federal government and our government to have in-depth review of the process that we have been using to negotiate the land claims. Some of these land claims, negotiations, have been long-standing, as long as 25 years. Our expectation is that the ministerial special representatives will identify or have been tasked with looking at what the major roadblocks and issues are that are preventing us from moving forward and to make some recommendations that will allow us to move forward.

Thank you to the Minister for answering the few questions that I had. It is true that the ministerial special reporter has met with all parties and will be more likely tabling the report to the parties, including the GNWT and the federal government. Could the Minister explain just the key steps of the go-forward work plan that he anticipates will follow once the reports have been received by the parties?

The way I see it is both the federal government and ourselves will receive the report from the ministerial special representatives. We expect to have it, we said, by the end of February. I expect that within the next couple of weeks we will have it. I will be meeting with Minister Bennett to determine a path forward, and once we determine the path forward we will take action. My expectation is that at some point we will work with our joint Cabinet and special committee. We will also work with the Aboriginal governments that are involved in the negotiations.