Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll start it now and then turn it to Martin for more -- dipping into that and the timing.

So the first step we did was we reviewed the whole thing through Cabinet. Cabinet has reviewed them all. We will be working with the standing committee. We will also be working with the Indigenous governments. And then we will be releasing them.

But Martin, do you have more -- sorry, through you, Mr. Chair, if I could turn to the deputy minister to give a more definitive timeline for those actions to happen.

Thank you. Mr. Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I look forward to getting these out there and I think they give something for the public to have a conversation about. They give, you know, something for Regular MLAs to talk to Indigenous governments about. They allow us to have some sort of negotiation conversation in public. But to me, this -- I would view this as step one. I reviewed the federal principles and interests. You know, there's not a lot of controversy in what they say but then they went, and they made a lot of significant changes to their negotiating mandates on very specific things, you know, such as funding formulas or cede and surrender clauses; you know, things that really get into the weeds that I suspect these principles and interests will not do.

So my question is once these are finalized, is there then a plan to overhaul the mandates that our negotiators have, you know, that those are not public documents; they're not -- the other parties at the negotiating table will see them but they're really what's driving it. So I'm wondering if these will then flow into an overhaul of our mandate directions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I think it's going to do two things. One, it's going to open it up so that there will be more dialogue and more things that we might be able to challenge, not only ourselves but Indigenous governments can challenge us on. Even in the Cabinet review, we've already made some things that said why are we doing that? So we've already started that process, in fairness.

The other thing that it's going to do for me, which is just as big if not bigger, is that there's this misperception out there that we have these hidden mandates and they're really secretive. And I think all Cabinet Members would agree that when we reviewed them, they're not really -- like the federal government, they're not these mysterious things that change at every table. They're pretty basic. So I am thinking that once we have them out there, it'll solve a lot of contention that people are afraid that they're making different deals at different tables, because I think that's a part of the problem. So I think it's going to do twofold. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Premier. Mr. Johnson.

No further questions, Mr. Chair. I'll just note that the Standing Committee on Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs plans to table our interim report in the coming days so I expect we'll have much more conversation following it. Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

Don't ask me because I just talked, but thank you, and I'm looking forward to reading that report because I've actually already seen a brief preview of it so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Are there any further questions? Ms. Martselos.

On page 23, Mr. Chair, the two agreements that have been concluded are two final trans-boundary agreements. Are there going to be consultation with Indigenous governments within the jurisdiction of the Northwest Territories before these are ratified?

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Actually, those consultations should be almost finished by now, actually. What I can say, Mr. Chair, is I heard that there was some contention about them, and I had my own contentions about them.

We were -- my understanding is that when those agreements were first done, it was agreements bilateral, not trilateral. The NWT wasn't part of the discussions. It was those Indigenous governments and Canada. And we had to fight to get at that table. And what -- when I first took over -- and that was just at the beginning of the consultation, it was kind of a signed deal, the Indigenous governments from the other jurisdictions asked me, how do you think the Indigenous governments in the NWT will take this? And my answer to them, because I like to be honest, was probably the same way you would take it when we come in to your land.

So I think that there was -- I'm looking forward to seeing the report. I'm not sure if we'll get the consultation or if that's just federal government's going to get that. Martin might be able to speak more to that. But I do think there will be some issues.

But I've also been talking about the Indigenous -- to the Indigenous governments here. If other jurisdictions are allowed to do that because of their hunting rights, then why aren't we looking at that as well? And I have heard from some of the governments that they will be looking at that, because hunting didn't stop at borders. Those borders are defined by -- God knows who? But it wasn't Indigenous people. So if it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander. So I've been telling Indigenous groups here, look south, my friends, look south.

Mr. Chair, I'm not sure if Martin could expand if we're going to actually see the results of that consultation piece or if that just goes to the federal government. But I wouldn't mind asking him through you.

Thank you. Ms. Martselos.

So the two agreements only include the harvesting? I thought -- I think is there only the harvesting that -- because once a trans-boundary agreement include land, there's a -- under section 35, there's a -- there's a barrier to any future development because you'll have to consult the person outside the boundary; am I correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, they don't but for a concise answer on that, I'd like to turn to the deputy minister again to talk about the areas that they do in --

Thank you. Ms. Martselos.

Well I beg to differ, Mr. Chair. Once you have an outside group owning land here in the territories, they have a right to section 35 and that means in any jurisdiction. That section 35 comes into play even if you want to open a mine and if they decide that they don't want to do that or they want to have IBAs for that or if they want to have ownership, they have that right just like any other Indigenous group in the territory, and I don't know if that has been conveyed to all the leadership in the Northwest Territories.

And when I stand here, that means it doesn't only affect Indigenous people; it affects all the non-Indigenous people in the whole territory. So I just want to know how you're going to address that, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Premier.