Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of ITI regarding his Minister’s statement today. In terms of the 2008 NWT Aboriginal Business Conference and Trade Show next week in Yellowknife by the Denendeh Development Corporation, my question to the Minister is: will the GNWT be making a presentation in terms of the forum to the small businesses that are going to be participating in the conference?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d be pleased to send a copy of the agenda and the registration package to the Member, but for his information, both the Business Development and Investment Corporation and the department will be participating in the workshops and making presentations. As well, I believe the Premier and I will be making speeches at various times.
I’ll be happy to receive that package from the Minister in terms of all this. This is a very worthwhile, golden opportunity in that we have strong aboriginal people coming together.
We talk about the Mackenzie Valley Highway. We talk about the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. We talk about the hydro potential. We talk about partnerships with groups with unsettled land claims that have negotiated contract policies and memorandums of understanding with the Government of the Northwest Territories. You have unsettled claims.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister: is this a golden opportunity for this government to sit down with the real owners of the land, talk about these big projects and get them recharging their batteries, as he stated in his statement? Will the Minister talk about these big project items so we can, as the people of the North, see a vision that will happen for our people?
Mr. Speaker, the conference next week also provides aboriginal businesses with an opportunity to interact with aboriginal businesses from all across Canada. That’s one of the main benefits. All large development projects and some success stories and best practices will be shared.
Another very important part of the conference, which was a highlight last year, was the youth component whereby youth representatives from every region participated. They were kind of a highlight of the conference because of their enthusiasm and new ideas.
Mr. Speaker, I would focus on page 2 of the Minister’s statement. The Minister has talked about the goals of the 16th Assembly as “a strong and independent North built on partnerships.” That’s what I’m asking the Minister here. Are we looking at really meaningful partnerships with these 200 or so participants from all the aboriginal businesses of the Northwest Territories and saying, “Yes, we can build the Mackenzie Valley Highway if we have to or we could”? That’s something that I’d like to look at.
We’re the North, strong and free. Would the Minister have some discussion in terms of how we’d have these discussions or partnerships with the aboriginal people?
Mr. Speaker, last year’s conference, for example, resulted in the formation of the Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce for the Northwest Territories. This will facilitate a large part of business opportunities. The Mackenzie Aboriginal Corporation participated, made a lot of connections and did a lot of networking to make sure that other aboriginal businesses and regions were aware of their existence. We see the value of that. Certainly, with the networking and the business opportunities I think that will benefit not only the Northwest Territories but the rest of Canada.
Final short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I take this as a very good opportunity for this government to participate in this conference put on by the Denendeh Development Corporation and have major businesspeople coming to Yellowknife to talk about their businesses and share their success stories.
I’d like to know: will the report from this conference come back from the Minister of this government and say, “This is what we learned, this is what we wanted from it, and this is why we want to introduce it into our policies after some discussion”? I think this is key, and you certainly have my support. Would we get a report afterward in terms of what we as government can do to support our communities?
The conference does have conference proceedings, and we’ll share those with the Member when they come out. It’s been an excellent opportunity for all government agencies that are involved in economic development and working with aboriginal governments and aboriginal businesses to interact in all areas of business.
