Thank you. Mr. Speaker, in my four terms in this House and 12 years as a sitting Member, I have never seen the relationship between the Gwich’in Tribal Council and the Government of the Northwest Territories at such a low point. Mr. Speaker, after concluding a meeting earlier with the Gwich’in Tribal Council and the Premier, Minister of Transportation and other officials, I thought it was going to give them an opportunity to sit down and work out their differences, but, Mr. Speaker, all that came out of it was that the Gwich’in do not have any rights in Inuvik and they don’t have a land claim in the Inuvik region and this government is going to do as it wishes with regard to the Gwich’in and the people I represent.
The Gwich’in are frustrated to the point they are willing to take this government to court to settle their differences because we cannot sit down and mutually find a way to work out our differences.
Mr. Speaker, this government has not listened to not only Members in this House, but also political leaders that represent a large portion of our population with regard to the First Nations government. Mr. Speaker, it’s sad to say the biggest negotiated contract this government has ever had -- a $100 million contract -- has never been scrutinized in the Gwich’in settlement region. There was a little curling project in my riding of less than $1 million that went all the way to the court system, the Construction Association and every other organization in the Northwest Territories was against a sole contractor. Yet, there is a $100 million project that’s in place with contractors from Vancouver to Calgary working in Inuvik, yet local contractors can’t get work on the jobsite for a $100 million project in the Gwich’in settlement region.
They made a decision to build a building in Inuvik, which is half the size of the space that’s already in Inuvik, to the tune of 50,000 square feet and this government is competing directly against the Gwich’in Tribal Council where they had an understanding that they were going to allow the Gwich’in Tribal Council to build this facility and now we find out that they put it out to request for proposals.
Mr. Speaker, everything that the Gwich’in Tribal Council are trying to do by way of the Discovery Air deal, this government is running them out of business. I, for one, am frustrated that this…
Mr. Krutko, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Mr. Speaker, to top it off, the Discovery Air deal, which the Gwich’in had some $15 million invested in, this company is now being told, sorry, you are no longer in the business. You might as well go contract with someone else because you’re not wanted because this government bailed the company out to the point where they have already had sound financing.
Mr. Speaker, when it’s an aboriginal organization taking this government to court because of fundamental rights that are in their land claim agreements, this government either has to wake up and smell the coffee or try to find a way to sit down and talk out our differences without getting to the point where it frustrates not only myself, the MLA, but the Gwich’in people in the Northwest Territories where this government is totally discriminating against that cultural group because of personalities on that side of the House.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
