Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last week and yesterday I was asking questions of the Minister of Lands. He has informed me through an email about his department and regional staff, and they are doing a great job. I have to give the regional staff kudos for the job that they are doing. They have met with Acho Dene, and tomorrow they will be meeting with the DFN.
Will the Minister, after his staff has a meeting with these two IGOs, will he be willing to provide that presentation to us so that we can now share it with other people? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned yesterday, we did send a series of letters out to IGOs, and we are commencing engagement with them. We want to build a good relationship with them, and to that end, I don't think there would be much benefit in making the document or our plans public at this stage.
I know that some information has been provided to committee as to our plans with respect to this complex matter. We are just at stage one, which involves consulting with and hearing from Aboriginal groups, and we don't want to do anything that might adversely affect that important relationship. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for the non-answer again. It is really discouraging, very discouraging, to see this government is downloading on the IGOs. They are saying, "Here you go. Here you go." They are not taking responsibility. We are trying to get information out there.
The Minister said it was stage one or step one. Will the Minister please explain how many stages there are through this since we get this information out there? How many stages are there? The Minister talks about a letter; it is stamped confidential, so we can't even share this information.
Can the Minister tell us how many stages are there?
There are several stages, and we are only at stage one.
Now, the Member opposite has talked about the information and the plans that we do have. We do not want to intervene between Aboriginal groups and their members. We are consulting with them. They, doubtless, will pass on information to their members. I don't think it would be appropriate or sensible for us to intervene between leadership and members.
I hear the Minister saying you don’t want to get in between the IGOs and their members. Well, some of those members actually are constituents of mine. They are asking me these questions. The trapper that is out there has a cabin there. He sometimes doesn’t go to these meetings, but the Minister wants the DFN or the Acho Dene First Nations to go out there and get that information. When the Minister talks about several stages, is it 100 stages? Is it four stages? Is it 10 stages? Can the Minister tell us how many stages are there and what the final result will be?
I mentioned that we do not want to intervene between the Aboriginal groups, Aboriginal governments, and their members. It is important that the leadership hears from us as to what our plans are, consults with us, and then deals directly with their members. I think that we do not want to intervene between those two groups of leadership and members. The Member asked about how many stages. There are several stages. We are just at the first stage. Our ultimate goal is to resolve this very complex issue, but we are only at stage one.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Stage one, is that the only number he knows? Really, I have asked the question: how many stages are there? Stage one, yes. We know that. We are trying to find out how many stages are there. Is it 100? At the end of the day, who makes the final decision on, what is it called? Rights-based cabins. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
There are far less, Mr. Speaker, than 100 steps. I am pleased to advise the House, [English translation not provided].
