Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I too would like to thank the committee for its work. I was able to sit in on most of the presentations from experts on UNDRIP and its implementation. However, I was not able to hear directly from Indigenous governments on any of their concerns around negotiations or implementation. I was interested and would have benefitted, I think, from participating or observing those meetings but was not allowed.

I haven't had a chance to read it cover to cover, but I certainly scanned the report. And I think it's a good summary of the UNDRIP presentations and some of the issues around UNDRIP and its implementation. However, I guess I'd hoped for some more definitive discussion and solutions in terms of delivering on negotiations for Indigenous land rights here, the ongoing negotiations and improved implementation, and I really want to see more of that happening during the lifetime of this Assembly.

And I'm well on record as expressing concerns about the pace of negotiations. In the last Assembly, the previous Premier promised to have everything done in four years. The only thing that happened was one agreement -- agreement-in-principle on self-government from Norman Wells. That was it, in four years. I do not want this Assembly to be in the same boat.

We've got three major sets of negotiations going on - Northwest Territories Metis Nation, Akaitcho, and Deh Cho - and we have a window to get those negotiations done in the lifetime of this Assembly. And I really want to impress upon my Cabinet colleagues to get the job done. We don't know what's going to come after us, but I'm a little bit worried. So I'm impressing upon you the need to get those three major sets of negotiations done in the lifetime of this Assembly. I know it takes two to tango, or three, but we've got to get that work done.

You know, and I guess in the discussions I've had with negotiators, I've heard the issues around that, you know, the problem used to be the federal government. People now say the problem is the GNWT. And I know there's better intent and some of the work that was tabled today will help with that, but I'd heard that, you know, there's issues with the negotiators for GNWT not having new mandates, that they have very little authority at the table, that they have to go back and check everything, and that maybe some of the negotiators need to be changed out and put in different jobs or whatever. So that's what I was hearing from negotiators. And that's consistent, I think, with what I read in this report. So again, I want to urge my Cabinet colleagues to get on with this.

And if it needs more dollars, more resources to get this done, put this as a high priority in the last year and a bit for this Assembly. And if you need more money, put it on the table, and I'm sure you're going to get support from the Regular MLAs for that.

I want to turn, Mr. Chair, to the two documents that were tabled today by the Premier, the Principles and Interests document, and then the Aboriginal Rights Agreement Negotiating Mandates Summary. And I guess I'd -- first off, I want to compliment our Cabinet colleagues and the staff for the language that's used in the document. It's very progressive. It doesn't use antiquated colonial language like "claims." So thank you for that. And I urge that we are very careful in how we discuss these matters as well in this House; we don't use colonial language, like "claims." These are not claims. These are rights.

But. But now that I've said the nice thing about this with Cabinet, and I know that the Premier asked for comments, but it would have been nice if we had seen those documents before they were tabled. I would have made some suggestions about how to make them more user friendly. It's pretty dense, the presentation. I would probably have included some kind of summary, some background on negotiations. People don't know what happens with negotiations. I don't know what happens at the negotiations table. But we have to do a better job explaining to the public what actually happens at these negotiations and who's at the table. We don't do a good job at that. And I think this was an opportunity to do some of that work.

So the presentation in the documents I think leaves a lot to be desired. I probably would have used some tables and so on, as I said, to try to better present some of the information. But it's out there now, and I hear from the Premier that she's interested in getting comments and feedback on that, and I will do that.

I think it would have also been helpful in the documents to explain how this differs from the old approach. That's not in there, really, in any detail. So I think that would have been a helpful addition to these documents that were just tabled earlier today.

I think that's all I have, Mr. Chair. But I just can't impress strongly enough the need to get a move on this. As I say, we've got a narrow window to get this important work done and that should be one of the top priorities for our Cabinet -- or our colleagues on the Cabinet side, please get that job done before the end of this Assembly. Thanks, Mr. Chair.