Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Premier today, and they are with regard to land claims. Mr. Speaker, we're all aware that finalizing and implementing land and self-government agreements is a high priority for the 18th Assembly, and as the Premier is aware and the rest of Cabinet, myself we heard repeatedly from a number of key stakeholders while we were at Vancouver roundup the importance of settling our land claims in the North to build certainty and not only just for resource development but also for reasons around conservation and preservation as well. So it's important for everybody on a number of levels. So my question is, can the Premier provide this House and Northerners an update on the status of land claims with the Akaitcho, Dehcho, and Metis? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pleased to report that negotiations at all three tables with the Dehcho, Akaitcho and NWT Metis Nation are ongoing and by all accounts the negotiations are proceeding and we're making progress. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Earlier in the year we are aware that the federal government had some federal appointees, ministerial special representations that came to the territory to do some assessment on behalf of the federal government. Can the Premier provide us a little update on what the status of those assessments are and can we expect those reports to be coming soon?
The ministerial special representatives that were appointed by myself and the Minister of Indigenous Affairs for Canada have been working very hard in both the Deh Cho, MSR had met with all of the leadership and has gone to every community and I think has also had a final round of meetings. Similarly with the MSR for the South Slave has undertaken all of those discussions, and I fully expect that final reports will be brought forward within the next couple of weeks, certainly before the end of February and also I understand some initial drafts have been shared with some technical experts for some input as well. So I'm looking forward to receiving the reports of the ministerial special representatives.
I thank the Premier for his response and certainly looking forward to those reports in the next couple weeks. Mr. Speaker, what then on a path going forward would be the next steps after we receive the reports? How will the Premier be informing this government and Aboriginal leaders going forward after receiving the reports?
The way we see it working out is that federal Minister Bennett and myself will accept the reports and we'll meet and determine a path forward. On our part, I certainly expect that we will work with the Joint Cabinet and Standing Committee on Aboriginal Relations and that we would, at the appropriate time, share that document and discuss it and, certainly, on a similar basis with the Aboriginal governments. They've all written and asked for copies of the report, so we'll determine a path forward with the federal Minister and we'll discuss it, and, at the appropriate time, we'll share it with all of the Aboriginal governments.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Premier for his reply. My final question is: does the Premier believe that, of course in collaboration with First Nations, that within the life of the 18th Assembly we still have the opportunity to finalize these agreements and bring them to implementation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At some point early on in the life of this government I made the point that we were hoping to settle all the land claims in the life of the 18th Assembly, and, certainly, my expectation is that we will make very good progress.
I strongly believe that the report of the ministerial special representatives will advance progress significantly. We had very good meetings with the grand chief of the Dehcho First Nation at roundup in Vancouver. We are both very optimistic, and we're all prepared to work very hard to move this file forward significantly. We've had discussions with the Akaitcho, and we think there are opportunities to move forward and, certainly, the head of the Metis Nation, there has been very strong movement, so I expect these reports will advance the files significantly, to the extent that we will be fairly certain of an outcome. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
