Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Premier and they are in follow-up from my Member’s statement earlier today. Could the Premier please give us an update on the status of the devolution negotiations between the GNWT and the other signatories of the AIP and the federal government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The status at this point, although delayed by the federal election, there has been no formal negotiations. We have been working with the parties, northern parties that have signed the AIP, on a work plan. So that is where we are at this point. We expect that over the summer, negotiations may begin on initial pieces being put on the table, but we’ll have to wait to see with the appointment of a federal Minister how they will re-engage on this file. Thank you.
During the winter session the Premier made a commitment to Regular Members to meet with residents of the Northwest Territories throughout the Northwest Territories to provide some clarity and information on the devolution process and what devolution means to the residents of the Northwest Territories. Could the Premier tell us what steps he has taken to meet with the residents of the Northwest Territories to provide this information and clarity? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Since the signing of the agreement-in-principle, we’ve taken a number of initiatives to get as much of the facts out to the public as we could. We did a householder, radio ads, as well as had meetings; for example, at the request of the Sahtu, travelled up there and had a meeting with a number of the communities on the agreement-in-principle. We went again into the Sahtu more with a Chamber event and spoke to them about the agreement-in-principle. We took the opportunity to raise the issue in Hay River with the Chamber there as well as in Inuvik. As well, as the Member stated, we’ve taken advantage of all opportunities when Members or leadership make requests to travel into their communities. We will be looking to add to that as we begin negotiations and use, for example, this evening’s town hall with Members of Yellowknife and the public to further discuss the AIP.
In my poll, one of the questions was: Do you support the GNWT moving forward with negotiations on a final devolution agreement? The most popular response, with 42 percent of the vote, was yes, but make every reasonable effort to include all Aboriginal governments and organizations in the negotiations. Could the Premier please let me know what steps his office is taking to include Aboriginal governments and organizations in the negotiations of a final Devolution Agreement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The process that we’ve engaged in, and will continue to engage in, in bringing partners to the table is one where we’ve communicated prior to the signing of the AIP of a process. We looked at establishing a protocol; unfortunately, that wasn’t successful.
Since the signing of the AIP, we’ve informed and keep all groups informed of the work we are about to do. Hopefully in the near future we’ll send another letter to all of the leadership explaining the work we’ve done setting up a work plan, and continue to urge them to come back to the table for more discussions and signing of the agreement-in-principle to look at how we could continue. The door remains open going forward on the basis of moving forward on an agreement-in-principle and we hope again that they would take the opportunity to come forward, whether it’s days or weeks coming up towards negotiations.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
