Floyd Roland

We make every effort to attend the aboriginal leadership meetings across the Northwest Territories. We can provide the information of how many meetings we have attended. It is important that we work together on that basis. That is why, for example, we’re trying to solidify an ongoing relationship that is put in place and recognized at the regional leaders’ table. For example, the last meeting we tabled -- the example is the Council of the Federation -- that with the regional leaders. We hope to build on that going forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process we have in place for meetings with aboriginal governments and leaders is, one, first and foremost, that is really formally structured now. The regional aboriginal leadership meetings are attended by the seven regions and the grand chiefs and presidents of those aboriginal governments. As well, when advance time is given and we’re requested to be on the agenda, we would have the appropriate Minister -- if they can’t be in attendance, the appropriate deputy minister -- to present what has been requested. In the case, for example, of the Beaufort-Delta regional...

The fact that we meet regularly, we’ve had seven regional leaders meetings with the grand chiefs and presidents of the aboriginal governments across this Territory. We just held our seventh meeting in November, in Dettah. In fact, the executive reports that were given at the Dene Leadership Meeting by these grand chiefs and presidents, they were in attendance at our regional leaders meeting. In fact, at our regional leaders' meeting we also had some discussion about the issue of caribou conservation. In fact, I believe our press release may even have touched on that topic. The fact that before...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The situation that has occurred there, one is it’s unfortunate in the sense that we were not able to have Ministers in attendance, but we need to set some of the facts straight in what led up to this.

Mr. Speaker, number one, not all Ministers attended the Gwich’in leaders and the Beaufort-Delta leaders meetings. Both Minister Bob McLeod and Minister Michael Miltenberger were not at those meetings. Two, the request for attendance at those meetings and the request to make presentations on departmental responsibilities were made months in advance so that we could set the...

First and foremost we are putting in place the relationship that we have with regional leaders. Mr. Bill Erasmus is involved in that by notification of our meetings, the agendas and so on. We have been, for example in Lutselk’e at that Dene Assembly there, attended with a number of our Ministers, including myself. When we’re given enough notice, we try to be as flexible as possible and we’ll continue to do that. I’ll sit down with the Dene national chief, Bill Erasmus, to talk about a process we can set in place and that hopefully he can provide us enough lead time so we can work on making...

We have a process in place now that we meet with the regional leadership and have a bilateral process. In fact, as I just said earlier, we just finished a meeting with regional leaders in November and we’re already into planning preparations for the end of March with the regional leaders. So it takes a long time to get the agendas together, to get the necessary information together, so that we can have these meetings. We will do the same in advance notice of the Dene Leadership Meetings. There are many examples where we have Ministers and myself who have been to the leadership meetings to make...

We are prepared, as I said, and continue to work with our aboriginal partners across the Northwest Territories and will set the time aside to sit down with them. In fact, we’re working on the next Regional Leaders Meeting to be at the end of March. We’ll continue to work with them. For example, those that made the presentations from the executive reports at that Dene Leadership Meeting, we’re hoping to have all of them in attendance, including Mr. Bill Erasmus, national chief of the Dene Nation.

Thank you. In preparing for whether it’s meetings with aboriginal governments, with provincial governments, with the federal government, there is much advanced time in trying to allocate time and resources and meeting times of Ministers with the appropriate parties. So we are always prepared to sit down and set that time aside, with enough advance notice and that’s the concern here. The notice, the invitations that were given to Ministers, came in in mid-January, a week before the meetings. The commitment was already made by Ministers at other meetings and events, whether it was in this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document titled Northerners Working Together: Fulfilling our Plan. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance has highlighted our efforts as government to provide residents of the NWT with an interactive on-line accounting of the strategic initiatives introduced to advance the priorities and goals of the 16th Assembly in a deliberate and organized fashion.

Later this afternoon I will table a companion document to this project. Titled Northerners Working Together: Fulfilling our Plan, this document provides an overview of the vision set out by our Assembly, and the specific actions, projects and investments that this government is undertaking to support it.

Mr...