Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my previous history in the land claims process, before getting into politics, was with the Dene Metis claim and then also being involved in the regional land claims of the Gwich’in and the Sahtu. I also took part in one of the devolution negotiations back in 1995 in which we were all at the table, we had our own legal counsel, each group was basically represented around the table for negotiating a northern accord on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories along with the Government of the Northwest Territories. Back then Mr. John Todd was the Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, which we actually sat at a table to negotiate. So again, I’d like to ask the Minister in regard to the process. Were the aboriginal groups physically at the negotiating table when this agreement was being signed between the federal government and ourselves?
Thank you, Mr. Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process now is we have a draft AIP that has been sent back by the negotiators to the principals. An additional letter has gone out to the aboriginal organizations seeking their input if they want to continue on with the process of being involved in the final set of negotiations. We are going to await that response. In the work that’s gone on before, as I stated earlier, if we go to the previous Assembly, in fact four of the aboriginal groups signed on to a draft agreement at that point and had sent it in. So throughout the years many have been involved in the negotiations.
Up until this point, this Assembly has not signed any agreement. We are going to take in the comments, wait for the response from the aboriginal organizations. As I said to Members of this Assembly earlier, we will seek input from Members before a decision is made on how we proceed. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the concern from the aboriginal groups that I’ve been talking to is that under the land claim agreements we have water rights provisions; we have, basically, land and water provisions; we have the surface rights provisions; we have land use planning provisions. All those provisions are basically supposed to be part of the devolution process so that when the devolution process will be concluded, you will have a working relationship with landowners throughout the Northwest Territories from the aboriginal landowners to the Crown holders and making sure that all the parameters of those agreements are basically intact and they’re working in regard to a new land and water regime in the Northwest Territories.
So again I’d like to ask the Premier, because I think a lot of the discussion has been around royalties, royalties, royalties. Everybody sees dollar signs. But this agreement is more than dollar signs; it’s dealing with lands, waters, and the management of resources in the Northwest Territories. So again, I’d like to ask the Premier why is it that the government is refusing to allow aboriginal groups to sit at the table and negotiate those elements of the agreements, which is very much a part of this devolution process to ensure that those elements are in the agreement going forward.
Mr. Speaker, the fact is we have not refused anybody to the table. We have invited all groups to the table, and, in fact, between INAC and ourselves, have supplied up to in the neighbourhood of $400,000 for groups to come to the table and participate. We’ve been welcoming, we’ve been open and invited all groups to the table, and throughout this process groups have been at the table and some have not been at certain meetings until April where it was the Gwich’in who said that they were not going to be formally a part of the negotiation process. Previous to that, they were involved.
Mr. Speaker, there have been court cases across the country looking at the whole involvement of aboriginal people, governments, to ensure that consultation is more than just getting a notification to take part. Negotiations means you actually sit at a table like this and you basically negotiate back and forth. So I’d like to ask the Premier again, were the aboriginal groups at the physical table where these negotiations were being negotiated between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal government.
Mr. Speaker, I can’t speak for the previous government. I know that the groups that did sign on at that point and were also at the table at the start of this process when we re-engaged with the federal government. At that point, one group has chosen not to be there. Again, others were at different parts of the discussion tables and briefings and negotiations. I am not going to get into the actual workings of those groups.
There is a process in place. As I said, I will honour that process and we are going to wait for a response from the aboriginal organizations if they are going to continue to be a part of the next phase of these discussions. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I will try to simplify my question. During the negotiations between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal government at those negotiating tables... I mean, you keep talking about a past tense of what aboriginal groups did or who signed on or who didn’t. I want to know, physically, were the aboriginal groups at the negotiations between the federal government and the Government of the Northwest Territories to come up with this latest agreement-in-principle for devolution for the Northwest Territories? Yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, the aboriginal organizations that have a joint letter from the chief negotiators talking about the process they reached and the continued involvement of the aboriginal organizations to this next process and we are waiting to see if they will be continue to be a part of this process or come back to the table, in some cases. We have included and we have sat down with Members to provide them information on those that have been involved until we had the official response of the Gwich’in in April. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
