Bob McLeod

Mr. Chair, we are not neophytes in devolution. We have been involved in devolution for 30 years. Devolution is the administrative transfer of programs from the federal government to the Government of the Northwest Territories. We are finalizing our communications strategy. There will be unprecedented consultation and public engagement with this particular devolution.

Certainly, we have been doing implementation planning for at least the past three or four years, so we are confident that the resources that are identified will be sufficient to allow us to have unprecedented engagement and...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left I have Andy Bevan, acting deputy minister for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, on my right is Richard Robertson, director of policy, planning and communications with DAAIR. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I don’t mind taking responsibility for general service officers. But I think it was the staff of the Executive that came up with the idea. I think it was largely through the regional directors that work in the communities.

As far as cutbacks in band government funding, I’ve heard about it, but none of the chiefs have been in contact with me about it. I meet with the grand chiefs on a regular basis so we can ask them about it and see what the implications are.

As we predicted, the Government of Canada has appealed the decision. Our preliminary analysis is that it would have minimal or no impact in the Northwest Territories because of the fact that we’ve been treating Metis differently. We’re the only jurisdiction in Canada that has Metis health benefits. We’ve been accorded hunting rights. If anything, if the decision stands up we may have been able to recover some of the money that we spent on behalf of Metis, but that remains to be seen because it’s before the courts.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We haven’t finalized the exact number, but it will come out of the $22.5 million that we will be receiving from the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes I do, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to present the 2013-2014 Main Estimates for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations.

The department’s main estimates propose an operations expenditure budget of $7.416 million, an increase of 1.5 percent from the 2012-2013 Main Estimates. This increase is attributed to forced growth of $130,000 for collective bargaining adjustments, less sunsets of $18,000.

The department, on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories, is responsible for representing the interests of all Northwest Territories residents in the negotiation...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have been to communities several times. We do have a process that we’ve been using. We’ve been going in partnership with regional Aboriginal governments and we’ve joined up together and gone to the various communities together. As I indicated earlier, we have developed a draft communications strategy. When we go to the regions, we go with our Aboriginal government partners. We will also go to all the communities and we will have our devolution team that will go. It will all be described in our draft communications strategy that we’ll be sharing with committee.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The government works together through a Cabinet committee, called Managing This Land, where we bring all the different departments that have responsibilities for land or land management and dealing with land use planning. Right now the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is leading the Government of the Northwest Territories’ internal review of the Sahtu Land Use Plan through a collaborative interdepartmental working group. We do that to make sure that the plan respects the roles and responsibilities that are set out in the various land claims and the MVRMA...

Yes, I do.

Thank you. I’d say we’re 45 percent of the way there. Our focus has been on promoting it, and also through educational processes holding workshops with the different departments and working with the departments so that there’s a greater understanding of gender equity. I don’t think we’ve reached the point yet where we analyze every project from a gender equity lens, but I think that’s something that we’re aspiring to in the future. Thank you.