Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask several questions to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. As you all know, the GNWT and the Sahtu have signed on to the Devolution Agreement. I understand that three out of at least seven or eight groups have come on board. I just wanted to ask the Minister if he can provide us, this House, an update as to the progress or the next steps of the devolution negotiations. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Right now we are negotiating a final agreement with the Government of Canada and the participating Aboriginal governments. We are keeping the other Aboriginal governments that have not signed on the AIP, we are keeping them informed by regular detailed updates on the negotiations, and we are also in discussions with four Aboriginal governments to see if we can find common ground with regard to devolution and other Aboriginal issues. Thank you.
As negotiations unfold and as the public kind of observes this process, at some point it is inevitable that conflict will arise. I want to ask the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs if there are mechanisms in terms of arbitration or mediation that perhaps this government will consider as this progress towards a final agreement progresses. At some point perhaps there could be an anticipated juncture where conflicts will arise.
Is the Minister and the negotiations team aware or even considered, perhaps, where there could be mediated measures or arbitrated measures to ensure that the progress is made but at the same time the common interests of all groups are maintained? Thank you.
As the Member is aware, the framework agreement that was signed by all three parties, which guides the Dehcho negotiating process, points out that both the federal government and the Dehcho have different understandings on the interpretations of treaties 8 and 11, and our preference is that the Aboriginal and treaty rights for the Dehcho be negotiated through the land and resources agreement.
As I talked about before, the Dehcho understand that devolution is based on a modern land claim treaty and they don’t agree with the written version of the treaties. Their view is their oral version where they had not given up any Aboriginal rights or land under their treaties. Right now the Dehcho are negotiating a final agreement which will take precedence on anything that’s negotiated, so we are using the negotiations as the process. We did get correspondence from the Dehcho in 2006, where they concluded that devolution would not affect their lands and that they wished us every success in our devolution negotiations.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I like the term “common interest.” At some point, I know there’s progress, and negotiation is an agreement-in-principle and it’s non-binding on the parties. I wanted to ask the Minister if at some point, with the two parties at the table – and of course, with the interests of the GNWT to treat the whole Northwest Territories as one main body – has there been discussions with the groups in terms, perhaps, principle agreement to the concept of a central government working with the regional government and how those governments will be sustained through resource revenue sharing.
We are trying to do that through bilateral discussions with the Aboriginal governments. We have been meeting with the Tlicho. We have been meeting with the Dehcho and, unfortunately, we were weathered out on a meeting this Thursday. It’s our intention to meet with them to see if we can find a way forward, and we are planning to have some high level discussions.
Similarly, with the Akaitcho we had a meeting planned for this past Tuesday but one of the elders from the Akaitcho passed away, so those meetings were deferred. It’s our expectation that we will continue to have discussions to try to find some common ground.
Thank you, Mr. Premier. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
