Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My statement today is dealing with the Business Incentive Policy. I think there’s a major problem with the policy. I’ll just go through some of the principles of the policy that are supposed to be applied.
The Government of the Northwest Territories adheres to the following principles when implementing the policy: the government referential practices should maximize benefits for the residents of the Northwest Territories to the government policy and procedures; should enhance the Northwest Territories business environment, ensuring sustainable economic growth; and the policy should not prejudice any present or future self-government treaties or land claim-based rights.
I have a problem with (3). I believe that this policy undermines the land claim agreements and undermines the whole objective of the land claim agreements to have stable and subsistent businesses in the land claims agreements. Ensuring that we have self-relying people and self-relying communities by making capital investments to develop the economic liability of those businesses to be sustainable, when you have businesses located in two communities… I’ll use the illustration of Inuvik. You have two hotel companies in Inuvik. One is owned by the Gwich’in Development Corporation in partnership with a company. They spent $12 million to put this facility in place. Now we’re finding out that the Government of the Northwest Territories is only using one hotel for government employees, which is the Mackenzie Hotel. For one reason or another they are not using the Gwich’in business in Inuvik. This totally undermines the whole principle of land claim agreements.
Why should aboriginal companies invest their monies in the Northwest Territories to provide an economic benefit to their benefactors by these types of businesses? Yet again this shows the disregard for land claim agreements, land claim corporations, from doing business in the Northwest Territories, especially in the Inuvik region.
I don’t know what it is, but it seems to me there’s a line drawn in the sand and this government is doing everything it can to undermine those land claim agreements and the Gwich’in Tribal Council and these business arms by trying to do business in the Northwest Territories.
This has drawn a wedge in regard to the aboriginal business…
Mr. Krutko, your time for your Member’s statement has expired.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
This totally undermines the whole concept of land claim settlements in the Northwest Territories and for aboriginal groups to develop an economic base so they can provide for their benefactors and the people in communities so that we are able to be self-reliant people. When this type of practice is done by the government to undermine those land claim agreements, the policy itself is in question. This policy, as far as I see it, shouldn’t be put forward to the implementation of the land claim agreements and see how it draws up to the land claims agreements. Are they exactly undermining those agreements by these types of policies?
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
