Caroline Cochrane

Thank you. Respectfully, Mr. Speaker, it's usually the Premier that would speak on Executive Council issues. So if you're all right, I'll take that question.

So the purpose of the provision in all actually in all policies in the GNWT are similar to that stating that the Executive Council, nothing in the policy shall in any way construe the limits or the prerogative of the Executive Council to make decisions to take action respecting a lot of policies.

And the reason is for that is because although Ministers have specific departments, it's the Executive Council, as a whole, that is responsible...

Abstain.

For.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also want to acknowledge, again, and thank the Member for when he did his opening comments today in talking about the issue, talking about we can't do this unilaterally, I agree 100 percent. Nothing about us without us is a comment to be pointed with me.

We did bring the concerns to the Council of Leaders table and stated when legislation that we're getting I'm getting pushed in the House to get legislation across by MLAs and then gave them a timeline of when we could expect what work had to be done before legislation could be done to get into this term of this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're always trying to improve our services, programs and services. I'm just thinking a couple of them that stick off my head right now are the Indigenous Government Procurement Policy. That has never been attempted in any government that I know of before this so that's work that we're starting now. And then of course the government already has their mandatory Living Well Together, which is an Indigenous cultural awareness and sensitivity training that we're asking every employee and every MLA to actually review. So that services people. All staff are more cognitive of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to also recognize the officers that are here in respect, but I also want to recognize Lorne Hudson who I believe is a constituent of Range Lake, so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate the Member always looking at this. It's really important work, the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples. However, I keep having to remind Members that this work is done by Indigenous people in partnership with us. They're taking the lead on this. And so as when that work plan will be done, there is a working group of which the GNWT has one Member and all the Indigenous governments have membership on that. So I can't say at this point when that work will be done. It's contingent on when the Indigenous governments have said "we're done." Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually the request to look at the programs across to see if our programs and services align with the United Nations declaration was done by all of the departments across the GNWT. However, it was also that information was also provided to our special committee on reconciliation. I want to make sure I got the Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs as a part of the research that was compiled to be able to provide the interim report.

I do know that the Member is part of that committee and had access to that information. But right at this moment that information is not...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also want to thank the Indigenous governments for their input into this work that the special committee's been doing. I believe in my own opinion that the report is very fair and a balanced report. So I thank the committee. Good work, committee.

The work of the committee actually, I think, validated a lot of the concerns that I was hearing previously to the committee as well. I do also want to recognize the MLA for Boot Lake Twin Lakes, Twin Lakes actually. Not the MLA for Twin Lakes. I'd like to thank her husband who first brought the idea of the core principle and...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents: Principles and Interests Guiding the GNWT at Aboriginal Rights Negotiations with Indigenous Peoples; and, Aboriginal Rights Agreement Negotiating Mandates Summary. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.