Thank you, Mr. Chair. The special committee's interim report was read into the record during the last sitting on Wednesday, March 30th, 2022, by the deputy chair. This Assembly has tasked the Special Committee on Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs to seek and encourage discussion and recommendations on opportunities and challenges in meeting two specific Assembly priorities:

• Advance resolution of Aboriginal rights, negotiations, and
• Implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

For the past year, this special committee heard from academic and law experts on the United Nations Declaration and from Indigenous governments and the organizations on negotiating agreements in the Northwest Territories. The special committee heard about diverging views on ways to implement the declaration and how to action the declaration and policy. We decided that an informative interim report would be best to encourage discussion.

The special committee has not yet heard from all Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories but felt that sharing what we heard so far contributes positively to the discussions and finding resolutions.

Mr. Chair, we heard from Indigenous governments that there are three serious challenges in negotiation agreements in the Northwest Territories:

The slow pace of negotiations, negotiation mandates and competing interest. The slow pace of negotiations is one challenge mentioned by all. We heard that an increasing complexity of agreements, increasing size of negotiation teams, frequent leadership changes, and the desire for comprehensiveness and legal certainty slow down the negotiations.

We heard that Indigenous nations find themselves stuck in a negotiation structure inherited from the past with little room to move forward or break out of. All Northwest Territories witnesses agreed that government needs to get away from fixed and predetermined principles at the negotiation tables, be more flexible, and not change the core principles and objectives unilaterally.

Consistently we heard that not the federal government but the Northwest Territories government is holding back progress in negotiations. We heard that competing interest and overlap in land use combined with the absence of land agreements create an unattainable and undesirable situation.

More importantly, Mr. Chair, we heard finding a way forward is at the heart of everyone's agenda. Despite at times the critical language describing the past and the current experience of negotiations in the Northwest Territories, we were inspired by all the positive and forward-looking tone used by the Indigenous nations.

Mr. Chair, I want to thank the Indigenous nations and all the witnesses who have come forward and shared with us their views and experiences because we value the conversation and appreciate the opportunity to learn from you.

Mr. Chair, this committee recognizes that this interim report may be important to this and the next government. The way we establish and maintain relationships will reflect our awareness of the past and then determine the level of mutual respectfulness we will achieve.

Mr. Chair, this is a unique committee. Three Members are regular MLAs, two Members represent Cabinet, and the Honourable Premier Cochrane is a non-voting Member. As a special committee, we focused on working together. We will continue working together in finding solutions, and the final report will contain recommendations.

Individual Members may have comments on the report, and I would like to thank the special committee for their collaboration and sharing spirit that enabled the work on this report. Thank you, Mr. Chair.