Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witness into the Chamber.

Would the Minister please introduce -- or the Premier please introduce her witness.

Mr. Chair, with me I have Mr. Martin Goldney, the deputy minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs and the secretary to Cabinet. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Premier. Committee, yesterday we finished -- or we were on pages 23 and 24, settle and implement treaty, land resources, self-government agreement. And are there any questions? Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. On page 23, it's one of the progress milestones is two agreements concluded. And I guess I just want to get some assurance from the Premier that these two agreements are not just these trans-boundary agreements; we're talking hopefully something more substantive like either Akaitcho or Deh Cho or the Metis Nation; is that what this refers to? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly, if -- just take a moment here; I've just got to figure out this clock. You've got 62 minutes.

---Laughter

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We want -- we would like to make all of the agreements concluded but that's not a reality. So you know, we're hopeful that the southeast and southwest ones will be concluded. We're also hoping that the Nyak Dun one will be concluded. We -- we've got a tentative agreement-in-principle with the Akaitcho but they've got to go to their membership. And, you know, thought we were close with the Gwich'in and then they joined back. What I'm trying to say is that things happen and, you know, there's changes in leadership; there's changes in negotiations. There was questions today about the NWT Metis Nation and the statement that we've had two agreement-in-principles with them. So sometimes you make agreement-in-principles and then they change their mind and they come back. So our commitment -- the last Assembly said they were going to settle them all. That wasn't realistic. They didn't get any done. This Assembly, we're going to try to settle two. What two they will be, I'm hoping that we'll have more, but I can't say that for a hundred percent certain that any of them will be done because it all depends on what happens at the tables, and things change all the time.

We're hoping that when we release our -- when we look at the core principles objectives, the intents around the interests around negotiations, that that will open it up a little bit more. But like I said, on our side we're doing our best we can. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Premier. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'll try that one more time. So the two agreements concluded as the milestone, is that beyond the two draft trans-boundary agreements? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. When we began this Assembly, we did not sit down and say these are the two agreements that should be concluded. We said instead of trying to do all agreements, we will shoot to make sure that two agreements are finalized. So which ones they will be were not defined at the beginning. And so we're hoping for more. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'll just leave it as a comment that I hope that this is more than just two trans-boundary agreements and if the -- if Cabinet needs more money to get this work done, I urge them to go to FMB. The Regular MLAs, I'm sure, would be very supportive of this. We have to deliver on this. And I don't know how else I can say that. Thanks, Mr. Chair. That's all I've got.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is not an issue of money. I've never heard from any of the negotiators or any of the tables that it's more money. It's a matter of everyone being willing to sit and negotiate. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Are there any further questions on settle and implement treaty, land resource, and self-government agreements?

Seeing none, Committee, we will move to page 25, implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Questions. Mr. Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I see here that the NWT Council of Leaders has a working group, and we're working on legislation to implement UNDRIP. I guess the big question there is do we expect -- does the Premier expect to introduce UNDRIP implementation legislation in the life of this Assembly? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is my hope, that we have it (audio) Assembly however we're getting some flack on that as well at the working group. It's a matter of -- and we may have to -- we're looking at maybe the possibility of bringing in a facilitator to help.

They don't understand the process of the Legislative Assembly. There -- a lot of the members that are part of the working group believe that they can just say this is what we want and it's a done deal. We experience that at the last Assembly when we did the land and water as well. So we're still going through that. But we're committed to getting it done, and we'll use whatever methods we can other than -- it has to be by the lead of the Indigenous governments. So if we need a facilitator to help to explain the process, then we will do that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Johnson.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. Also I see here that, you know, some of the work is to identify changes for GNWT policies, and then there's a how we'll demonstrate progress as reporting on program changes provided.

I have yet to see any of that work, or I've yet to see, you know, us change a policy or, you know, change some sort of internal operations of the GNWT and say this is due to UNDRIP. Can I just get the Premier to speak to whether, you know, the federal and BC legislation kind of mandate a work plan that demands departments and agencies to review all internal policies and then make changes? Is it -- you know, is that our plan, and when will we see some reporting on programs and policies as a result of implementing UNDRIP? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know that we are working on the housing policies but for cross-jurisdictional information, I'd like to turn it to the deputy minister. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Deputy minister.

Thank you. Questions? Committee, we're just waiting for the Members that are virtual to get tabled documents. It'll just be a minute. Relax.

Members, are there any further questions on implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People?

Seeing none, Committee, we will move to page 26, increase regional decision-making authority. Questions? Are there any questions -- oh sorry, Ms. Nokleby.