Michael Nadli Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Lands. Recently, we had a tour of the Deh Cho. The Minister of Lands accompanied me on a tour of the Deh Cho riding, and he heard many concerns. One of the concerns regards land leases. As we all might know, currently, there are negotiations between the Dehcho First Nations, the Government of the Northwest Territories, and the federal government. First Nations are certainly entitled to their traditional lands. Of course, governments, their approach is to try to maintain the public interest of all residents of the NWT.

Now, with land leases, the way that I explained it in my language is that it is borrowed land. "Nde Goniit'o," that is what we are living on in most communities. We have to pay government for living on those lands. Such is the predicament that we all live in here, in the NWT, as opposed to outright ownership of lands, where a person could buy a house and put that house on a piece of land.

My question is to the Minister of Lands. Can the Minister outline the barriers for making residential leases available in the Deh Cho? Mahsi.