Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I made a statement on the Dehcho Land Use Plan. My question is directed to the Premier. What is the Government of the Northwest Territories prepared to do to help move the Dehcho Land Use Plan forward so that it could be completed?
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Premier, Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We think land use planning is a good thing, and it helps with planning for development in the Northwest Territories and also to protect areas of environmental importance.
We as a government have been working since the 16th Legislative Assembly to develop a land use framework for our government. We are continuing to work on that. I think the work that the Dehcho has been doing on the land use plan has been very good. I think the past chair will be very difficult to replace. I think that we are getting very close. As a government, we want to work with the Dehcho First Nation and the federal government to develop a real worthwhile and a forward looking land use plan that we can all work together from. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I just want to ask the Premier: Is there any follow-up on what it is we can do in terms of helping out the process? How is this government planning to ensure that the success of the interim Dehcho Land Use Plan is completed? Mahsi.
I think there are a lot of ways that we can work together. I think that with the advent of devolution and one of the things that the Government of the Northwest Territories wants to ensure is that lands that have not been selected by the Dehcho that there is some potential economic development that can be undertaken. I think that the areas that are of importance to the Dehcho First Nation, we want to work with them and the Government of Canada to make sure that they are clearly identified. We also want to make sure that there are lands available for land selection by the communities and the Dehcho when it comes down to it, because there are lands being set aside for protected areas. There are still lands that have to be identified by communities. We will work consistent with the Dehcho Land Use Plan in terms of reference with all of the main players to see if we can advance this fairly quickly.
My final question is to the Premier. Is there a timeline in terms of perhaps concluding the Dehcho Land Use Plan? I realize there have been a lot of discussions and pull towards concluding the Devolution Agreement. Will the Premier assure other First Nations, including the Dehcho First Nation, that their agreements would take precedence before the Devolution Agreement? Mahsi.
As a government, we are reaching out to all Aboriginal governments to establish good working relationships, and I think this is the kind of area that we think we can use to advance our working relationships with the Dehcho First Nation to work on the Dehcho Land Use Plan. I guess ideally we would like to see something happen within a year if that’s possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
