Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, no, I appreciate that. And the Minister has confirmed that the only specific role in here is about getting notice about authorization for a Cabinet Minister to go off and negotiate a shared decision-making agreement. But, you know, we're supposed to be a consensus government system, and this is not any regular kind of bill. This is a bill to implement Indigenous rights and has the potential to very significantly change the way the Legislative Assembly operates, the way the legislative agenda's formulated, what happens in committees.

And to exclude Regular MLAs from that process, not good. Not good. And it's not within keeping of how consensus government is supposed to work in my humble opinion. And you know, the committee tried to build in ways for Regular MLAs to be direct observers, dare I say, in some of this. And that was rejected by the Premier. And we're going to get so some of that a little bit further.

But the other two other issues, if I can get to them quickly, is I want the Premier to confirm that there was no engagement with Regular MLAs about the statement of consistency on a Private Member's bill. And a simple yes or no will do. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We agreed to work with Regular Members on developing the statement of consistency. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Yeah, that's good to hear. But I asked whether there was any work with Regular MLAs about including Private Member's bill within the scope of this bill before it was given to us. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to pass it to Martin Goldney.

Mr. Goldney.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Yeah, thanks for that confirmation. I do want to thank the committee for its work. You know, and there's some good features in here. Don't anybody characterize me as trying to stop or oppose this. The action plan is a good idea.

The idea of doing a review, the shared decision-making agreements-in-principle, all good things, and certainly consistent with the declaration. The issue is none of that was going to be public. Absolutely nothing. No public information about it, no opportunity for public engagement. I just -- one of the most frustrating things I found, certainly in this Assembly, is I want to give the Premier and Cabinet lots of credit. They did a great job in engaging and working with Indigenous governments. Maybe not all of them. But they have completely forgotten that they're actually supposed to be a public government. Committee had to fix this up. Committee shouldn't have to fix that up. So I want the Minister to tell me how they actually considered the open government policy in putting this bill together. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to start and then pass it to Martin Goldney for additional comments.

The role of the executive -- so within consensus government system, Madam Chair, Regular Members, all of us 19 Members, determine our Cabinet. And the reason we pick Cabinet is so that the Cabinet can take oversight of the government programs, developing legislation, etcetera. What was --

Do you want to repeat your question, Member for Frame Lake

I don't want the clock to be run out. I want to know how specifically the open government policy was used in drafting this bill. I don't want to hear about the roles of Cabinet. I don't want to hear about roles of Regular MLAs. I want to know how the open government policy was implemented in the drafting of this bill. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Madam Premier.

I will pass that question to Mr. Goldney. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any other general comments on this? Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Are there any further general comments? Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a quick comment, I guess. Madam Chair, Bill 85 is a start of a new relationship between this government and Indigenous people of the Northwest Territories. Is it a perfect start? Probably not. But it's a move -- but it is a move in the right direction. It provides the framework for the recognition of a cooperative relationship based on principles of justice, democracy, and human rights. Some, not all Indigenous governments we know, have signed on to this declaration. And in time, I believe that will happen as claims are settled. The Government of Canada, this government, and the people of Canada have talked reconciliation. And now we have an opportunity to make that reality through passing Bill 85. And I'll provide my support to make that happen. You know, we've talked enough. But at some point, we have to walk the talk, and I think we can start that by passing this bill. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Are there any further general comments to this? Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll just keep my comments short. I guess the overall, I've been around for a while here in Aboriginal politics. And, you know, when we keep thinking about the early days of the Northern Accord in 1989, was more or less again another way of transferring a lot of these authorities from Ottawa to the GNWT.

And in 2004, they created the Aboriginal Summit and the Aboriginal Summit, again, was made of all these Aboriginal leaders in the Northwest Territories and trying to work on an arrangement with GNWT. And my colleague, Ron Bonnetrouge here from the Deh Cho, had talked about devolution 2014. And that was the beginning of the transfer of a lot of the responsibilities from Ottawa, even on leased land. At one time the Government of Canada used to provide those services for about $200 a year on leased lands and somehow it got transferred to the territorial government and the leases went up to, I don't know, $1,600, and if you're an elder it goes down to $800 and for those services. And it's really frustrating for the elders in my community. But at the end of the day, you know, when you really think about it, it's the GNWT is actually in the process of moving towards a provincial-like type of government or overall. So they have greater control on the lands and resources here in the Northwest Territories.

So when the devolution gave way, that's exactly what happened. But going forward, I'm just wondering, like, there's going to be a set of check boxes with the GNWT as to how we can get to that where we are to the point where we're an actual province of Canada, you know. And right now as it is, there's still hurdles in the way though, that we need to talk about, and I keep mentioning it over and over again, is that we have section 35 constitutional rights. We got claims. We got self-government agreements. Sooner or later, this government here is going to have to deal with that. And it may have to be done through a constitution that be created between the GNWT and Indigenous governments. And that needs to be talked about. So we just want to make sure that, you know, this bill that's going forward doesn't impede -- and we already know it doesn't impede on those constitutional rights. But overall, you know, I keep thinking about this and when I hear the discussion around the table, you know, at the end of the day, you it's -- this government here, the ultimate goal and mandate of this government is going to be become a province.

And when that happens, then the authority's going to be here. But we need to figure how we're going to work together and co-exist and what kind of relationship we're going to have. So it's more or less a comment because, as a former leader, I mean, I've been around -- I've been to all these meetings as a former leader. And I seen it. So anyway it's just going to be -- Madam Chair, it's just a comment. But the thing is that I guess overall this bill, there's some issues there that we could take a look at but we'll get it sorted out. Thank you.