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.
