Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just glancing through the documents here, and I went through the budgets and the summary and the finance minister's speech and when we -- on day two of the -- of the session, and then I went through the 2019-2023 mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories outlining the 22 principles mentioned by the Premier.

And looking at the budgets, what stands out for me is that we got about 18 months left in this government and COVID has taken front and centre stage of where we're at today. And what I don't see, though, in the budget is that -- a line item there to implement the United Nation Declaration of Indigenous people. I'm not sure maybe if -- if the Premier can maybe direct me where to look in here because, one, I don't see it in our budget. I don't see in the line items here. I'm looking at it under the directorate. And I went through it already. So that's the question I have. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Honourable Premier.

I'll start, and then I'll pass it on to Martin Goldney. I do know that the work of the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous People is being done at the Council of Leaders table. So you don't see any money directly in this budget that says United Nations Declaration of Indigenous People. However, every Indigenous government that attends that table is provided funding to be able to be at that table.

And so most of the work, like I said, if there's a legislative initiative that needs to happen, that would be done internally by EIA. And a lot of that work will be looking at principles right across and looking at how government provides services, which would be all internal work as we go forward. The Indigenous governments are saying it's not only about the legislation. We can do that internally. It's also about how we provide services, and that's the work that will continue on past this government. It should not be something that just happens in this government. It should be something that goes on for the rest of time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for the Premier for your response. And just that if we're going through this budget here, I just want to make sure that, you know, we -- if there's line item there, we should be improving this line budget because what's outlined in the document here for the next four years is -- the 22 principles are pretty serious and, you know, as Indigenous claims are in motion here in the North, this may change the way negotiation takes place, etcetera. So I'm assuming that's been factored in when they are sitting at the main table. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Did you have a follow -- sorry, Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, like I said, the work right now is deciding at the Council of Leaders table of how they want to approach this, whether they want to do a -- the general kind of an act that says thou shalt implement, or if it wants to be more specific. Once we do that, we can do that internally with our own funding. They do get money for attending those tables.

As we go forward, if we find that we need more money because of that, then we will look either internally, or we'll look to a supplementary appropriation, or -- we will look to find the money. This is important to all of us. And so that's -- thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My question would be to the Premier. Thank you for that information response. When you got 18 months in this mandate of this government, do you see this government improving the United Nation Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People before this session ends? Thank you.

Thank you. Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Our officials have been working with the working group from the Council of Leaders table. We've let them the know timeline that we need, the maximum time -- or the minimum time that they can actually give us an answer to be able to pass legislation in this setting. This -- they're kind of divided at the table, Madam Chair. Some of them are saying like, give us the time it takes, and other ones are saying, yes, let's get it done. So once they decided that, you know, I'm hopeful that we will have something in the term of this Legislative Assembly. But again, I think it's really important to recognize that the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous People is very specific. All over it, it says this is about Indigenous people. This is not about the GNWT defining what it should look like. And I've taken so the beatings in this House, and I will continue to take those beatings because I recognize this is about the Indigenous governments defining what it should look like. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

I had to further questions, Madam Chair, and thank you, Premier, for your responses. Mahsi.

Thank you. Are there any further questions under directorate from Members?

Seeing none, Executive and Indigenous Affairs, directorate, operations expenditure summary, 2022-2023 Main Estimates, $6,521,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. We will now turn to Executive and Indigenous Affairs, executive council offices. Questions from Members? Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm on page 126, and I see on the line item aboriginal consultation and relations that the 2021 Actuals saw a substantial increase.

Are you on 126? We're not on that section yet. We're on executive council offices. You were just too far ahead. So did you have questions, Member for Kam Lake, under executive council offices?

Sure, I'll ask about the travel line item on this one. The travel line item between main estimates for the previous year and this year have been reduced by roughly $300,000. And I'm wondering what the difference will be to the work being done by executive council offices and the work they're able to do to bring more money into the territory. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Honourable Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. There's going to have to be some tough choices. I mean, it was a recommendation from committee to look at our travel line. So we've looked at the travel line. We need to be able to get out there. We need to be able to travel. We need to be able to do the affairs to bring money in. So we will be making some tough choices at the executive level when Members -- when Ministers shall be travelling or not, and with the purpose of always bringing in money. That's what we're here for. I am hopeful that -- well, I'm not hopeful. I'm projecting -- I'm not hopeful at all; I take that back.

I'm projecting that over the summer that you'll see more travel throughout the regions because we all know that the public health officials has told us that COVID should get better in the summer. And then I'm assuming that with the winter season coming up again that things will get tighter again because COVID outbreaks will hit us again. And so therefore we have to really be strategic on when we travel, and I assume that this summer we'll be able to take as much advantage as possible and then in the fall slowing down again for the winter season. Hopefully I'm wrong, but that's what I'm projecting. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. And I hope you're not right. But thank you, Member Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I know historically that a lot of the travel from Cabinet has been -- or a significant amount of it has been to meet with federal ministers and to discuss different deals and agreements. One of the things that we have definitely seen, and that has been the noted nationally, is that the North is impacted by change much, much greater than southern Canada. We have a very fragile system. And so I'm wondering if there's conversations so -- happening with federal ministers that bring federal ministers to the North to see what life is like on the ground here and, at the same time, be able to save on that travel line item without missing out on face-to-face? Thank you.

Thank you. Honourable Premier.