Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker earlier today I spoke about the Premier's commitments to settling land claims by the end of this Assembly. The direct quote is, "Let's get these land claims completed, all of them, in the life of the 18th Assembly." I would like to ask the Premier today if we are on track to do that and if these claims will be settled by the end of the 18th Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased that the honourable Member from Kam Lake finally recognized that this file exists and that he's learned the difference between land claims and land rights, and I'm very pleased to say that we're working very hard to fulfil our objective of selling all of these land rights agreements within the length of this 18th Assembly.
Language is important and I obviously have to be careful, as does the honourable Premier.
On the topic of land rights agreements, Mr. Speaker, there was the commitment to have a new offer to the Dehcho processed within 90 days. Was that offer made? I'll just leave it there. Was that offer made? Was a new offer given to the Dehcho in 90 days of the Premier taking office?
We did better than that; we met with the leadership of the Dehcho and we committed to having ministerial special representatives appointed to review the progress to date to identify deficiencies and challenges and what areas we could change to move forward. We had the opportunity to have a discussion in Vancouver at the Mineral Roundup with the Grand Chief Herb Norwegian, and he agreed that we would continue to work together to resolve these long-standing negotiations and we are both optimistic that we can move forward.
I think there's a difference between making progress and a new offer. My understanding of a new offer within 90 days is there will be a new offer on the table for full consideration. Was that made? Was there a full deal given for consideration in this process, or was it only the appointments of the ministerial special representative from both governments that changed this process? That's certainly a new of way going forward, but I think it pales in comparison in a fully realized deal.
I have said before, it's very easy to make a new offer; could make one today to the Dehcho, but our objective is to reach an agreement and that's what we're working towards, Mr. Speaker.
Final question. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On an issue that's very near and dear to my honourable friends on this side of the House, the working group on this issue, it's only met once. I'm wondering if the Premier can advise when the next meeting will be and if the terms of reference allow this committee to give direction to the negotiations process, or if it is only a group that's being used to update my honourable friends? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll be pleased to answer his multiple questions. First and foremost, the terms of reference were reviewed and agreed to by both sides at least six months ago, and so everybody agreed to them, and the honourable Member from Kam Lake knows that we had a meeting. Everybody agreed that the next meeting would be when we received the reports from the two ministerial special representatives, and we expect to have those very soon and then we would have a meeting at the appropriate time to discuss these reports.
Thank you, Premier. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
