Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the AIP today. My questions are for the Premier.
What I am mostly looking for here is clarity. I think there is a lot of confusion about content of the AIP. I think it is up to us and Cabinet in particular to make sure that people really understand the content of the AIP.
I have read it. I have pulled it down from the CBC website and I have read it. I am curious what the Premier is planning to do other than what the Premier started with today. There was some information today, which is great. But what next steps is the Premier going to be taking to ensure clarity, ensure that people understand the content, understand what this AIP means to us in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process that we would have engaged in has a normal procedure that goes through with an agreement-in-principle. We would be preparing a public paper for their consumption in the areas of the AIP, what it means if there was a decision to proceed. Seeing that, as the Member pointed out, it is out there for public consumption and there are many comments being made now that some are made more in just not understanding the full document or out of context, and some positioning being taken out there by others, that we feel we will have to come up with a plain read document or somehow get out to the households in the NWT how we put the final touches on it. But we need to look at what type of information do we get out there and the timing of it, because we would also like to get the response back from the aboriginal leadership across the Territories and be in a better position to be able to respond from just the GNWT’s side.
We are looking at doing whether it is a household package or attaching something to the website. We will be coming to Members with that type of information before we do anything, though. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Premier for that. I look forward to seeing the plain language document or whatever we are going to call it when it comes out.
Like I said, I have read the AIP. It is not the easiest read out there. There is a lot of information in there. There are a lot of things that need to be thought about, considered and talked about.
My question to the Premier is: What kind of timeline are we looking at? You mentioned that there are some things that need to be done before this can come out, but people are talking about it today. If you go out into the streets, people will ask you and they’re asking me what does it mean, what is the content? Although it’s out in the CBC, we aren’t really in a position to talk too much about the detail. So when is this going to come out? When is this plain language document going to come out and be available to the people of the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We will have to sit down and look at what a plain language document would look like, the timing of getting it out, the method, going to Members for your input, as well, to see if we are on the right track and ensuring we are protecting the process we are in right now and informing the public as to the work that has been done.
As the Member pointed out, we started today to set the record straight, so to speak, on some of the information that’s gone out there. We are looking to do a number of other statements. So that is one of the ways we’ll do that along with this public document that we’re looking at creating. Thank you.
Once again, thank you for the statement from earlier today and I look forward to any future statements that are made by Cabinet to help encourage the understanding.
I’m curious, the document is out and as a Regular Member on this side of the House, I’m not scared of the AIP. I think it’s an important document. It’s nine years’ worth of negotiations put into this thing. We’ve come to a point where we have an agreement-in-principle which basically just, if signed, allows us to take the next step and begin the negotiations. So I’m not scared of the document. Let’s talk about it. It has been posted. Is there any reason why we can’t table that document here in the House? I’m curious about process now that it’s out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In respecting the process we have with the partners with this, the aboriginal governments as well as the Government of Canada, decisions are yet to be made on this and I don’t recall in the previous governments or whether it be with ourselves or other partners in this where a debate would happen on an agreement-in-principle.
We have almost 15 different tables of negotiations going on across the Northwest Territories about self-government and land claims and resources and those matters. As we go through those and a decision is made to sign an agreement to get to the final stage of negotiations, we don’t put those documents out here for debate. What we do, much like previous governments have done with the Tlicho Act itself in establishing that self-government, that bill would come to the House. Those things would come to the House for debate at that level.
But seeing that it is out there and there’s much discussion and debate happening in the absence of the context of this agreement, one of the things we want to do is work with the partners in here to see if they’re prepared to join us in doing something of this nature to get a plain language document out to households in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just for the record, I’m not interested in renegotiating the AIP. I know that we’ve had professionals who have taken our message to the federal government and they’ve negotiated this deal and they’ve got to the point where the AIP is done. It’s done. There’s no more negotiation on it. It’s in front of us. We either accept it or we don’t accept it. So I’m not interested in renegotiating it.
I’m just interested in standing behind it. It’s public. It’s already gone. The press has it. It’s on their website. I’m okay with standing behind this document saying, this is what we have, this is the deal that’s been negotiated, this is what we have to make a decision on today and put it out in front of the people and let them talk about it and let us help them understand what it means. So that’s the only reason I would suggest that we would benefit from tabling it, because it’s out there. We might as well stand behind it and start helping people understand it. So I’m not sure if the Premier said he would table it or he won’t table it. So just to that question, is there any chance we might table it just so we can really stand behind that document?
The process we have; one, Cabinet has yet to make a decision on this document. I think at that point, then it becomes something that we could either stand behind and support going forward or it becomes a moot discussion that there is no moving forward. But I agree with what the Member stated about the fact that we have come to a place, chief negotiators have sent a letter saying they’ve reached their mandate, this is it, time for a decision to be made Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
