The Chair Lesa Semmler

I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of committee? Mr. O'Reilly.

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Madam Chair. Committee would like to consider Tabled Document 286-19(2), Main Estimates 2021-2022, with Executive and Indigenous Affairs. Thanks, Madam Chair.

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Does committee agree?

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, committee. We will take a short recess and resume with the first item. Thank you.

---SHORT RECESS

The Chair Lesa Semmler

I will now call Committee of the Whole back to order. Committee, we have agreed to continue on with Executive and Indigenous Affairs, and we will continue on page 126, Indigenous and intergovernmental affairs operations expenditure. Madam Premier, are your witnesses here?

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I have witnesses.

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Welcome. Madam Premier, will you please introduce your witnesses for the record.

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. With me today, I have Mr. Martin Goldney, the secretary to Cabinet and the deputy minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, and Ms. Amy Kennedy, the director of Shared Corporate Services for Executive and Indigenous Affairs. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Madam Premier. Welcome back. Member for Frame Lake.

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Madam Chair. There are three areas I'd like to question on page 126. Maybe I'll start with the lines around implementation, intergovernmental relations, and negotiations. There is no increase in any of those lines. You know, I was in the 18^th Assembly. The candidate who eventually became the Premier promised that all of the ongoing negotiations were going to be completed in the four years. Do you know how many agreements we actually reached in four years? One. It was an agreement in principle for self-government in Norman Wells, for the Metis local there. One agreement in four years. Madam Chair, I don't want to be back in that position at the end of this Assembly, and I continually hear from negotiators, people involved in the negotiations with Indigenous governments, that the problem now at the table is GNWT. It's not the federal government anymore. They are a minor player, for the most part. The problem is our government. That's really not a great place to be, to start with.

I know that we have a new Cabinet and they promised new things, but there is nothing to deliver on that promise in this budget, no additional resources. Anyway, my question for the Minister here is: do the negotiators at any of these tables have new mandates that have been developed by this Cabinet to try to move this forward, and why is there no new money in here to try to help move these negotiations along? Thanks, Madam Chair.

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Madam Premier.

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. At the beginning of this Assembly, we did have a presentation to the Executive on the negotiations. They do have mandates. They know exactly what. As stated yesterday, Madam Chair, the difficulty is that, when it becomes too financial, monies et cetera, they need to actually come back to the executive for approval. The negotiators are not executive. They do not have that authority to make excessive decisions without a Cabinet approval. That is a common process. In the last government, they said that they would all be done; probably not the best commitment to make on the floor. We never committed to that.

Why is there no new money? We have spent the last year and a bit that we have been in the government actually working on those relationships. Again, because of COVID-19, it has allowed me to actually meet more regularly with Indigenous governments. We have built relationships. We have had governments come to us that had said they were not going to work with us, and, because of the relationships that we have formed over this new government, they are coming back to the table. So I do have hope that, within this government, I am not naive enough to say that we will have them all done, but you will see progress within this government. If we need extra money because of that, then I will go back to the executive and ask for supplementary funding. However, at this point, Madam Chair, I do not see that we need it. I think that the negotiations are going fairly well, considering the detail and the difficulties with negotiations. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.