The issue is of trying to get that information and as we have, right through this process, had full working relationships, technical as well as through the negotiation sessions. Of course, as we’ve pointed out, we’ve had some groups or one group particularly stay away from the negotiations since it’s been picked up again. The work throughout has continued to have that door open and invite all to continue to be part of the process. As we hear back from them, we will consider how we progress forward together.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since someone opened the barn door and let the horses out, I might as well get involved in this debate too.
I’ve had a discussion with the president of the Gwich’in Tribal Council and the vice-president and there has been an olive branch handed out to the Premier to meet with them in Inuvik, where they just happen to be in the Premier’s riding. He has never once gone into the tribal council office to try to sit down and find a resolution to this problem. The letter that was sent to you clearly identified that they wanted to meet and discuss these issues. You have not at any time gone to the tribal council office to meet with the president or the Gwich’in Tribal Council vice-president. How can you sit here...
Mr. Krutko, could you direct your questions to the Chair, please? Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How can the Premier sit here and say that he’s working in cooperation with the First Nations government and all the people here? The only people I see him working with is one office that he goes into and he gets them to ask his questions. I’d like to ask him, why you are not involved in the aboriginal leaders who are elected by their membership in a face-to-face meeting, one that requested it in a letter six months ago to which they haven’t gotten a response or even a phone call? Is that the way that you operate?
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll have to disagree with the Member, and strongly disagree. The fact is we’ve set up the regional leaders table and the regional leaders come to the table, bring the agenda items to the table, and at their request keep it as an agenda item moving forward. The fact is, and if you want to get out and start to put this out there... And this is the danger, Mr. Speaker, that the Member knows, as I have informed him the other day that, yes, Inuvik is my constituency and that tribal office is in my constituency. I, in fact, during the summer went in there and tried to have some meetings. Now, I won’t say what happened and how come we couldn’t get together, but the fact is I was in that office and tried to get a meeting. So before you start to sling mud, let’s make sure we have all of this before we embarrass other leaders.
I spoke to the vice-president yesterday. There was a request put in. The letter is still out there. They’re waiting for a response. If anything, there’s a phone number on the page. All you have to do is pick up the phone and make a phone call. So will you make a phone call to the Gwich’in Tribal Council vice-president or president and start the discussions on this matter, rather than simply put in the people that have made a little bit of waves, push them aside, and only deal with those people you think you can get support from?
The record will show that we have tried to work with every regional government in the North. We have given dollars to be at the table, to help with the technical evaluations, to travel to our meetings, to put items on the meeting agenda. In fact, we’ll have another one. We had one at the end of August, a regional leaders meeting in Inuvik, that all the parties were invited to. Unfortunately, sometimes their busy schedules mean they’re unable to make it. On top of that, there are many calls made on the technical side to provide additional information.
We’ll continue to work with all parties to provide the necessary information and the opportunities to sit down. In fact, I was hoping we could address that letter through one of our regional leaders meetings. I’m prepared to sit down with the president at any point, to sit down with him and go over some of these areas and see what their response is, although he’s made it quite clear he’s not willing to go forward on this AIP as it is structured.
I believe that the six points that are spelled out in the letter basically outline the areas of concern. It’s not only the concern of the Gwich’in, it’s the concern of the other regions in the Northwest Territories that do have land claims. They do have costs and administration systems in place. They do have management regimes that they want to make sure there is a working relationship between whatever government that provides government services regarding land management. I think it’s important that we work with those land claims groups that have land claims settlements, more importantly because they do have responsibilities in the Northwest Territories by way of ownership and management responsibilities. I think it’s critical if any agreement is made here, it should be done with those land claims groups that have those legal obligations spelled out in their agreement. Will the Premier commit to that?
As I stated earlier, we have opened the doors to a continued working relationship on this file along with other files where we have continued and shown we’re working in partnership. The Wildlife Act, the Species at Risk Act, the land use plans, the Water Strategy. We’ve had teams going out throughout the Territories and regions to get input and work with us on developing these strategies. This file is the same thing. At the regional leaders table, their technical staff, their lawyers, their negotiators have been part of the process and are welcome to continue to be a part of the process. In fact, hoping that as we go through this next stage, more importantly that they continue on as we go forward together and iron out a final agreement. One of the things we need to do, and I’ll commit again, we’re ready to sit down and talk even where there may be disagreement.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to get some assurance from the Premier that there will be ongoing discussions with these groups, because we do have influence. We do have land claim agreements. We do have things that talk about the Norman Wells Proven Area Agreement. We do talk about the royalty regime throughout the Mackenzie Valley. In our land claims agreements, because of those things not being a part of this agreement, we have to clarify who we talk to in the future if it’s not going to be part of this agreement-in-principle. I think it’s critical that we cannot leave anything not in the legal binding agreement and leave it in the hands of someone else. I think at the end of the day if the federal government is not going to give up the Norman Wells arrangements to this government, they want to hang onto it, maybe they can also hang onto the lands in the settlement areas that would like to continue that relationship with the federal government.
Again, this AIP that’s before all the partners in the North as well as the federal government spells out an ongoing government-to-government relationship between aboriginal governments and the public government. This agreement-in-principle that’s before us as a government is one that recognizes the aboriginal rights. It does not take away from those. In fact, the language protects those rights in place of existing and future aboriginal governments.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I talked about getting a winter road into the community of Lutselk’e from Yellowknife. I have questions for the Minister of Transportation. I spoke about low water levels throughout the North and some uncertainty with the barging system. For whatever reason if the barge is unable to get into Lutselk’e to deliver the goods this coming summer, does the Minister have any sort of backup plan in place in case there’s anything wrong with the barges?
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, the Member for Tu Nedhe raises a serious issue. We have many communities across the Northwest Territories that are served by winter roads and barging systems. Low water has become an issue for many of these communities, and also the warmer winters are becoming a challenge to service some of the communities in getting the ice bridges and winter roads in place, namely on the Mackenzie/Fort Providence and also in the Tlicho communities.
Mr. Speaker, I point out that if there was a situation, and right now it’s hypothetical, but if there was ever a situation and the barges couldn’t make it into Lutselk'e, that would make it an emergency situation and that would fall under the Department of MACA to take the lead on it and find alternate solutions to get the material or the goods into that community.
Having said that, I would point out that of all the communities that are served by a barging system, the ones on the Mackenzie are probably most at risk. Lutselk'e is probably one of the safer communities because it is on a lake and the lake is quite deep and we don’t expect there will be any challenges in that area. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I spoke about the approximately 125 kilometres of road that is usually in place to service the exploration at Thor Lake. I was wondering if the Minister will commit to work with the community and industry to complete the winter road from there to Lutselk'e, which has many benefits to the community: cost of living, stuff that they can’t normally get in unless they are able to fly it, and that’s the community members. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I think it was last year was the first time this road was constructed to Thor Lake and it’s opening up an opportunity there that wasn’t there historically. It’s something I’ve asked my officials to look into, the possibilities that this new infrastructure or this new allowance has put before us. We’d certainly have to make sure of the intention of the company that’s opening up the road, that it’s going to be there for the long term. This development is still in the exploration stage and we would have to investigate the possibilities and the challenges that opening up a winter road for the final leg of this would bring forward.
Historically, there are only two occasions, I think, that we have seen a winter road. One was from Hay River to Yellowknife quite a while ago, and it brought huge challenges with pressure ridges. Talking to some of the people who were around during those days, they indicated we’re never going to do that again. You would probably need to travel with portable bridges because the pressure ridges opened up quite a gap. There was a time not too long ago when one of the companies that were working on the arena in Lutselk'e constructed a road and, of course, that posed a lot of challenges, too, and was fairly expensive. Those are things we’d have to consider and look at ways to move this forward, but we are exploring the possibilities. Thank you.
I’d like to thank the Minister for that response. Mr. Speaker, in the community of Lutselk'e, I have been advised that there are people in the community that know the lake very well and that they’re able to assist in any such construction that this government or any industry was prepared to venture into. I was wondering if the Minister could commit his department to working with myself and members of Lutselk'e to maybe start to do some of the footwork that’s necessary to develop a winter road on the ice across Great Slave Lake. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as I indicated before, I have directed my officials to look into this issue. The Member for Tu Nedhe has raised this as a concern, as something he wanted to see move forward, and we are exploring the opportunities. Of course, as we do that, we will take into consideration comments from the community and certainly include that as part of the traditional knowledge and that we’d like to have that discussion with the people who are familiar with the lake, familiar with ice and things of that nature. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the Sahtu and talked about the remarkable harvesting that we had of spuds in our region, actually now unofficially the potato capital of the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Minister in regard to this area here, in terms of on a going-forward basis, would the Minister look at ways, as he stated in his ministerial statement, in terms of creating more avenues to have food produced in the North that would be sold in the grocery stores and that, more importantly, the marketing should happen as soon as possible with these producers in the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for that important question, because everybody needs food to survive on, especially potatoes. I’m reminded of that Stompin’ Tom Connors song of ketchup loves potatoes, so… But this is an initiative of this government. We feel that we need to find ways to increase the production of food locally, and we feel that this is another way to reduce the cost of living and provide for more self-reliance. We are looking at a number of different ways, in partnership with the Government of Canada, to utilize local natural resources, and we are going to be looking at a number of different areas such as fish, muskox, other products, vegetables and so on so that we can find ways so people can use for themselves and also look for opportunities to market them commercially. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister mentioned in his ministerial statement that there is no reason why we can’t have food produced in the Northwest Territories and sold in grocery stores, hotels and restaurants. Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree with the Minister in this statement here. I would ask the Minister, in terms of going ahead, in terms of making this a reality, what can the Minister do to advise his department, his council, in terms of making this a reality for the people in the Northwest Territories, people who are paying a high price for groceries in the Sahtu region, so they can certainly enjoy this initiative.
I should point out that it wasn’t that long ago, maybe 20 or 30 years ago, where because of our isolation in the Northwest Territories, that most, I’d say all of the communities were self-sufficient and self-reliant with regard to food production. We’re now at the stage where we’re starting to take baby steps and we’re starting with the Small Scale Foods Program. We’re starting to look at bigger ventures. I think that some Members have raised agriculture as an option, and that’s something that we continue to look at. Even others as we get further into it, we could see how we can continue to provide incentives for local food production. Thank you.
MR. YAKELEYA: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the Sahtu there are
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will jump on the wagon if I can find one. Seriously, this is an objective and a goal for us. There are some challenges that we will have to address. Anytime you serve food and you provide food, you have to deal with health guidelines and you have to make sure that the food is safe and fresh and so on. These are the kinds of challenges that we have to face, but I think on a go-forward basis we can begin to work at it and we can take small steps. The more successful we get as we go along, the bigger we can get. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Time for question period has expired. I will allow the Member a final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is no small potatoes initiative here going ahead in terms of this program.
Mr. Speaker, we in the communities have eaten off our land for many years; our food, our fish and vegetables. We are still here. My people are still in the Sahtu. It is the current policies and regulations that stop us. We need to change that. I want to ask this Minister in terms of changing these policies. You have to come down to realities of the communities to make this happen and always be beggars in terms of our being slaves to the current policies that prevent us from what is actually given to us by the good Lord. Again, with his forcefulness, can this Minister go to his counterparts and say, we are going to make changes? Let’s shake this ground here. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, yes, we are going to shake things up and especially now that we know they can grow one-pound potatoes in the Sahtu. This is an area that we are looking at and combined we have to also look at inter-settlement trade so that we can move the resources around and so on. I think this is a very important initiative for this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 9, written questions. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 8, oral questions, on the Order Paper. Thank you.
---Unanimous consent granted
The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I really had one question, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on a statement I made the other day and my questions earlier today. It is for the Premier. I just want to confirm that should the AIP be signed, the Premier is refusing, really, is unwilling to initiate a comprehensive and inclusive public consultation discussion on Northerners use for a new land and resource management regime towards sustainable development in the NWT. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am trying to figure out where that comes from in the sense that the process we are involved in, if we do agree to sign an agreement-in-principle, then we would begin a process of the final settled negotiations, and those negotiations are the questions about what the transition needs to be.
The AIP spells out a timeline right now for the existing structures. We would have to design with our partners, aboriginal governments, how we would then put our stamp and make it a northern process for ourselves. That work would be started as we begin the final set of negotiations identifying what things need to be done and the timeline of that. That would incorporate a comprehensive process as we begin that process of taking it over. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I will try and put this as plainly as can be. I am not talking about negotiations at all, Mr. Speaker, I am asking the Premier to commit to a comprehensive public consultation process, an inclusive one on what Northerners want for a northern land and resource management regime. I am sure it will be useful in negotiations, but I am simply asking for him to commit to putting that in place as soon as the AIP is signed, should it be within the life of this government, with a transition document for the next. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I’m understanding a little more on the question. The approach is coming up with a process of informing people and coming up with what people would like to see in a final agreement and, as we implement that agreement, what it should look like. I think we can have a discussion and I will commit to sit down with Members and with this Assembly and let’s talk about how we may be able to put that parallel to the work that we would take on. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Premier just on the draft AIP in regards to the signatories to the agreement. Right now we have a bilateral. It is the federal government and the territorial government. There are no lines there for any of the aboriginal governments to sign on. I understand that the aboriginal governments can sign on later on. Right now the parameters are being set between the federal government and the territorial government. There are some major issues with the aboriginal governments of being signatories of this. Why are the aboriginal governments not signatories to this agreement here in terms of our discussions on the government-to-government relationships?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The AIP spells out the involvement of the GNWT and the federal government. It also incorporates a forward-going involvement of aboriginal governments in the process. Through discussions with the leaders at the table, it was felt that they would have that opportunity to join on, but if they were to sign a document side by side and they may have some disputes on some of it or their claims processes, there was some unease there. But what is in place is a government-to-government relationship and a bilateral process government to government with the GNWT, and the door is open for ongoing negotiations to involve and have our partners at the table with us. Thank you.
