Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we heard over the last number of weeks and the press release that has gone out to media advisers from the Gwich’in and Sahtu, statements by the Tlicho and the president of the Dene Nation, Mr. Bill Erasmus, that we do have a disconnect between the aboriginal leadership and the aboriginal community regarding how this devolution process will affect them. I would like to ask the Premier about the olive branch handed out to formulate a meeting between yourself as the Premier of the Northwest Territories and the federal Minister of Indian Affairs and trying to find some solution to these outstanding issues that have been raised. I’d like to ask the Premier what we are doing to try to engage the aboriginal leadership and try to find resolution to this standoff.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process we’ve engaged in is we’ve already made calls to the regional leadership to see if we can pull a regional leaders’ meeting together to discuss this issue. We’ll be following up with a letter today.
As you noted, there is a deadline that has been in place. I’d like to ask the Premier if that deadline will be extended to allow for this meeting to take place before we have a drop-dead date where they either respond to participate or don’t participate. Can we at least attempt to have that meeting before we come to that conclusion? Also to keep the Members in the House informed.
The deadline established was that through the chief negotiators’ joint letter that went to the leadership. We’ve started to see those responses. We’ve always had a meeting planned for near the end of November. We have now contacted their offices to see if we can move that up. We’ll follow up in hard copy. The deadline was put there in the sense of a response back from the regional leadership to the AIP. A decision going forward has yet to be made. In a sense, the comment was, can you respond back by the 31st on how you would be a part of it as the AIP states, and Members are aware that there’s always an open door for them to join, whether it is on the 31st their indication of what are the concerns or issues they have. Many of those we can address through our regional leaders’ meeting.
We have heard a lot of issues, whether it’s regarding the cap that’s been put in place or the aboriginal 25 percent or the whole area of how the powers are going to be shared, and what exactly the aboriginal role is going to be with regard to the negotiations and implementation of this arrangement. I’d like to ask the Premier if he is dealing directly one on one with those aboriginal groups that have those issues and are trying to find solutions to resolve these outstanding issues and trying to assure both the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal government that these outstanding issues have to be resolved in some format. Would you deal directly with those aboriginal groups one on one and find resolution to those issues?
The agreement-in-principle that is before the regional leadership for their comment and feedback as well as that is before the federal government and ourselves, allows for that government-to-government bilateral process to proceed once an agreement is signed. There is a process built in to have the bilaterals with each group as we progress, if that is the decision made.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated in my Member’s statement, this issue is more than simply a transfer of power from one government to another. It is a transfer of responsibility to indigenous people in the Northwest Territories by this transfer and the affects it’s going to have on the indigenous population under treaty rights, land claim agreements, and Section 35 protection rights. I’d like to know if we have an aboriginal lawyer or aboriginal legal counsel to look at it from the aboriginal perspective on aboriginal rights and inherent rights. I’d like to ask again if that issue is going to be dealt with prior to a decision to sign off.
This process, as I said in my statement, of the engagement, role, involvement from chief negotiators to legal counsel from the aboriginal groups, they have been involved in this. They are well aware of what’s in there. We are as well. In fact, as I stated, we stand by the government’s position on self-government and the inherent right. We stand by that. This agreement-in-principle will not take away authority from any aboriginal group that has their rights established through treaty and the modern treaties, being the land claims and self-government agreements. We stand by that in our commitment to continue to work with those. This agreement-in-principle is talking about Crown lands that are in the North that would then be the authority and regulations, and how we deal with those would be decided by Northerners. Their role, again, is clearly spelled out and the continued role of their involvement as we progress is spelled out in the AIP.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
