Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our government has long taken an approach of working in collaboration and partnership with industry and Indigenous governments, which has evolved from a time when we did not have the authorities and responsibilities that we are going to be having since devolution has taken place.
That said, we believe that our approach is working. These agreements have been signed and fostered billions of dollars in procurement and thousands of jobs for residents of the Northwest Territories since they were introduced in the 1990s, Mr. Speaker. The socio-economic agreements are one of those tools that we use to bring our partnerships to the table. There are targets that are set, but these are just targets. We are responsible for a degree of this because we are responsible for workforce development.
With that being said, again, as I have said, these are successful based on our accountability, and we do demand a face-to-face meeting with the companies and Indigenous governments and ourselves and local communities. We believe these things are working. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.