Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Premier today. I’d like to follow up on my statement and ask him a few questions with regard to the Intergovernmental Agreement on Lands and Resource Management. I recognize that that agreement is between our “public government GNWT and Aboriginal governments.” But, as I mentioned in my statement, there is a need for non-Aboriginal residents to have an opportunity to have some input into lands and resource management in our territory.
My first question to the Premier would be to ask him how does Bill 16, which is the NWT Intergovernmental Agreement on Lands and Resource Management Act, what is in that act that will address my concerns and those of my constituents?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The whole premise of this government here, its Intergovernmental Council is made up of governments that own land, and together we will manage land in the Northwest Territories. We have this public government structure that has 19 MLAs, and through this process we will represent all of the interests of the people of the Northwest Territories.
To the Premier, thank you, I guess. I recognize that the belief is that the GNWT represents all residents, and I agree that, yes, the GNWT should do that, but there needs to be an avenue for non-Aboriginal residents to have some kind of input, and I think the Premier should know that there are many times when residents feel that there’s a lack of an opportunity for them to provide input into lands and resource management and many other things. The Premier mentions that we have 19 MLAs, and I think he’s suggesting that that’s the avenue that residents should use.
I’d like to ask him is that the only avenue that he sees for input from residents to this government? What else is in place now to facilitate input from residents to the government?
Obviously, there’s more than just this Legislative Assembly. For example, Yellowknife has seven MLAs that people in Yellowknife can just phone and walk to their MLAs’ doors and provide input. We also have other avenues. We have committee meetings. We have departments where we consult, and then we consult and we consult on every imaginable kind of policy, and we seek input and then we go back and go back to the committees for their input and then, as a government, we take a position or develop a policy and then we would work with our Aboriginal governments on the Intergovernmental Council for those matters related to land.
I just have to say that the Premier mentions a whole host of things that are out there, but committee meetings are, I would say, probably 90 to 95 percent closed meetings and there’s no opportunity for public input there.
The Premier mentions consultation. What kind of consultation, and I’m talking about consultation specifically for residents who are not represented by another form of government.
Again to the Premier, is there a mechanism right now that exists so that residents can go to a body other than their MLA, that they can go to a body and they can provide input on a specific issue before all of the NWT?
This government spends a tremendous amount of dollars on consulting with the general public on any kind of strategy. I could probably list off about two dozen, but I guess the ones that come to mind are the Water Strategy and the forest management, devolution and what have you. We go out and we give everybody the opportunity for input. We go to the communities. We call meetings and we also use the Internet, our website, where we put out information and we seek feedback. There are all kinds of avenues for the public to have input into our policies.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I find it unbelievable that this government is going to go out and consult on every issue that comes before it. There are any number of decisions that are made by Premier and Cabinet on any number of issues into which residents have no input. There is a need for a formal mechanism for our residents to have an opportunity to have input into lands and resource management.
I’d like to ask the Premier, will he consider establishing some sort of a group similar to the Wildlife Act stakeholder group that was set up to handle input from non-Aboriginal residents, and will he consider the same sort of a group for lands and resource management?
We will find a way to get input from people that have large amounts of land that have some information to contribute.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
