Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In this case it was the NGOs in question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Actually, we’ve gone from 15 tables down to 14 tables with the successful conclusion of the Deline Self-Government and Land Claims Final Agreement.

I’d like to remind the Member that this is the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and we do, in my mind, consult on a regular basis with non-Aboriginal people and we fulfill all of the requirements of this government in that regard. Thank you.

I expect I’ll be seeing the federal Metis interlocutor on February 27th of this year.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have set up that division in order to fulfill the consultation requirements with Aboriginal people and treaty rights, which is a specific and unique Aboriginal rights relationship with the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

The increase happened two years ago. Thank you.

Yes, I do.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. They get $13,000 a year in core funding, Mr. Chair. Sorry, Mr. Chair. Since then, we’ve done a review and increased it to $20,000 in core funding for Metis locals.

We’re not in the business of taking over programs that are legitimately with the federal government. I think the fact we’ve always said the best way to show our Arctic sovereignty in the Northwest Territories is to have healthy, sustainable communities and the best way to do that is to have food that’s available and to have food security. Thank you.

This is a concern to us. We have been modelling the self-government agreements. Potentially if all of the seven self-government agreements were in place, we anticipate there would be a very severe shortfall to pay for self-government. Obviously, the Government of Canada has a different point of view. They see self-government as reducing their costs and we have pointed out to them where we expect there is a significant shortfall. They have indicated they are reviewing it and they’ve been reviewing it for some time now without any substantial change in their policies. Thank you, Mr. Chair.