Yeah, okay, if I wasn't concerned before, now I really am. If GNWT's going to interpret this bill in a manner that may allow for seizure and sale of Indigenous settlement lands, I'm voting against it right now. This is just not right. And the department doesn't seem to have done the work to discuss this with Indigenous governments. This is not a good place to be. So I guess I -- let's start with what engagement was done with Indigenous governments on this bill? Thank you.

Thanks, Madam Chair. So will that include settlement lands; you know, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, some of the Sahtu entities, the Gwich'in Tribal Council actually own some lands surface, subsurface, sometimes both for the same parcel. This bill would enable seizure and sale of those settlement lands? I just want to confirm how GNWT's going to interpret this bill. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Okay, thanks, Madam Chair. I'll try the second part of my question again. Will this bill enable the seizure and sale of Indigenous owned lands? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, that's kind of my thoughts exactly. If this doesn't apply to GNWT, why are we doing it? Will this bill apply to Indigenous governments and will it allow seizure and sale of Indigenous owned lands? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. So okay, I got an explanation as to why the Minister and Cabinet believe that this shouldn't apply to GNWT. Why does it apply, then, to municipal governments? Thank you.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Well, I guess I'm not really in favour of continuing what is probably not a good situation. You know, GNWT is the major contracting authority here in the Northwest Territories. Why doesn't this bind the GNWT? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. Well, my apologies to the Minister. My recollection was that that was said during the clause-by-clause review and if my recollection is wrong, I sincerely apologize. But I guess I'd like to know, first off, just confirm with the Minister, will this bill apply to GNWT? Will it apply to Indigenous governments? Will it apply to municipal governments? What's the application of this bill. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Madam la Presidente. I guess I have a number of questions here. The first one is I distinctly remember the Minister at the clause-by-clause hearing saying something along the lines of, you know, if I had to start over again I would have done this very differently, and I think we should just go back and -- I think it should be reported as not ready, basically so. He was encouraging committee to not proceed with the bill. So I'd like to know why we're here tonight. What happened between the Minister saying those words and why are we here? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. I'm just not sure I have anything further to say. I'm really tired, I just -- yeah, I think this was a good discussion and debate. I don't expect that it's going to pass but I want to, I guess, get on the record that I think whoever's negotiating these agreements in the future -- and I don't think there's any reason to be afraid of them. Some people are going to say that about whatever I said but that's fine.

I guess two things: I think Ministers doing their job well in a consensus government system, they should be coming to standing committee. They shouldn't just wait for the committee to come and ask them. And they should be providing regular updates about what's -- how things are going, what they're doing. And I don't think it has to be for every single shared decision-making agreement. You know, delegating some administrative stuff, who cares. But if it's a cool subject matter like education, as my colleague from Yellowknife North said yeah, that's an important thing that might have implications for how we set up school boards and, you know, Yellowknife pays taxes, other communities don't. How's all that going to work? So for some of them, yeah, it's going to require more intensive work with standing committees. That can be done outside of the bill and probably should under the process conventions, but. So that's one point.

The second point, you know, if we really want to get at constitutional development, we should come to it with that mind. Shared decision-making agreements are good but what we really need to do is start to think about constitutional development and what is the government -- what is the Government of the Northwest Territories as a public government going to look like? So in any event, I offer that as a comment. We tried to get an Electoral Boundaries Commission to actually look at that question at one point, but we couldn't do it. But I think we do need to start to turn our mind to constitutional development in the Northwest Territories. And this bill, I think, might help facilitate that as well.

But in any event, I don't expect this is going to pass, but I do want Cabinet to take note of my comments and, whoever the next Minister is, to make sure that they come and work with Regular MLAs as these things are being negotiated. Thanks, Madam Chair.