Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke on the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous People. My questions are to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. In the past the GNWT has played the key role in terms of the national and international levels. I wanted to ask the Minister what ways, in his view, is the GNWT going to continue working to uphold the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, UNDRIP, was adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2007 by a majority of 144 nations voting in favour. There were 11 abstentions and four votes against this historic declaration, and I am sorry to say that Canada, along with the United States, New Zealand, and Australia, was one of the "no" votes.

The declaration sets out the individual and collective rights of Indigenous peoples, as well as our rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health, education, and other issues. It...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No further questions.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the eventuality that, at some point, the ideal state has been reached where all regions have settled their land claims and self-government arrangements, would it be within the scope of possibility that this government presides over a framework of development and pillars to ensure that an understanding of the evolution of the NWT could become a matter of the discussions towards constitutional development? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to make a couple of comments, especially in regard to land claim and selfgovernment negotiations.

At the beginning of the 18th Assembly, it was very strongly stated that we needed to put extra efforts in terms of concluded land claim agreements and selfgovernment arrangements, especially with the regions that have outstanding matters that have yet to be resolved, whether it's in the realm of sovereignty jurisdiction or ownership on land rights and resources. That has been ongoing for some time, so I am encouraged to hear those words, and, yet, I remain curious as...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, in this respect, in terms of the parties that have signed on to the devolution agreement, and as a step forward, this government has engaged in agreements called cooperation agreements, what is the spirit and intent of those agreements. As an example, I understand the GNWT signed a cooperation agreement with the K'atlodeeche First Nations. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to understand from the Minister in terms of the long-term vision of the intergovernmental council. I understand, since signing the devolution agreement, Aboriginal groups have been engaged in terms of trying to work cooperatively with this government. I just wanted to also understand: what is the long-term intention of this group? Mahsi.

We had a tragic accident happen on the K'atlodeeche reserve, and I wanted to say thank you to everyone who pulled together in a short period of time to bring the family back home. With the amounts of donations accepted from communities such as Yellowknife, Fort Providence, Kakisa, Enterprise, Hay River, Fort Smith, and Fort Resolution and so on, they were able to furnish a whole house plus more for the Buggins and Chambaud family.

Mr. Speaker, the response of compassion and support and donations for the family speaks volumes of the true northern spirit. The family are back home on the Hay River...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to provide some general comments affecting this department, and I just wanted to highlight some points that I have just noted.

One of them, of course, is my interest in terms of the move from the protected areas initiative towards, kind of, morphing the initiative into another, called conservation area networks. My understanding is that there are some key advances that have been made at the community level in terms of identifying and designating conservation area networks. Communities remain interested in terms of how that will play a part in terms of setting...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.] I just wanted to acknowledge the presence of Jim Antoine, former chief, MLA, Minister, and Premier of the GNWT. Mahsi.