Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is party to Appendix C of the Salt River Treaty Land Entitlement claim. That section of the agreement remains outstanding, and trilateral discussions remain ongoing.
Will the Premier commit to working with Salt River and the federal government to address this section of the agreement and ensure that full implementation of a 2002 agreement will be fulfilled and go into full effect? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Absolutely, the GNWT has been actively working with Salt River and Canada on the implementation of Appendix C. Appendix C requires that all parties establish a trilateral working group to discuss the delivery of programs and services to ensure that the programs are available to all residents, and that includes Salt River First Nation members. So the trilateral working group meets regularly and discusses areas of concern that the Salt River might have with the implementation, as it relates to the GNWT programs and services. In fact, the official steering committee actually is meeting today at 1:30. So they're probably either in a meeting still or just finishing up. So we'll continue to meet and make sure that the implementation it's important that people get fair and equitable services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell us what roadblocks have prevented or delayed the Government of the Northwest Territories from fully implementing Appendix C of the Treaty Land Entitlement claim with the Salt River First Nation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm hoping there aren't any roadblocks at this point. I do know that there was contention over it in previous governments in previous years, and maybe even a bit now, about whose responsibility services are on reserve, because reserves have a special category versus selfgovernments in the NWT. But I think the Member is well aware when she was the Chief, and she brought it to my attention in the last Assembly, and said we've never got a housing program in our reserve since the conception, 50 years Minister Chinna said today. So 48 years then, or something, 46 years. And I have to give credit where credit's due. And so when I heard that, I asked the department why and the Housing Corporation said, because it's a reserve, it belongs on the federal government. But I went to the Premier of the day, Premier Bob McLeod, and I said Premier McLeod, this isn't fair, and he agreed with me, and he said, Minister Cochrane, do what you think is right. So we were the first government, in the last Assembly, to give two housing units, I believe, to Salt River, thanks to the Chief of the day. And that work is still continuing. I believe at this point now we have four that are or two more units that are going in for the 20222023 fiscal year.
As well, we just have a municipal service agreement that's in place to ensure that they get access to municipal services, similar to the community of Fort Smith.
And I think we're just if it hasn't been done, I just signed off on an MOU to look at the enforcement issues that Salt River has as well.
So like I said earlier, we believe in equitable and fair access to programs and services and I'll do whatever I can to make sure that happens. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, can the Premier tell us if she anticipates that full implementation of Appendix C of the Salt River's Treaty Land Entitlement claim will be fulfilled in the life of the 19th Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't like to guarantee anything that I can't make sure happens, but I can guarantee that we have the full intent to make sure that the rights that Appendix C of the Salt River Treaty Land Entitlement claim is fulfilled to the best of the GNWT's ability. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Member for Thebacha.
Mr. Speaker, currently Salt River First Nation does not have a yearly operations and maintenance budget for the upkeep of their reserve.
Will the Premier commit to working with Salt River to advocate to the federal government to address this issue and ensure Salt River will receive equal treatment and levels of funding as other reserves across Canada and the NWT do? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's a shame to hear that the reserves in the Northwest Territories do not get treated the same as reserves in the south. It's something I do not believe is fair. I will commit that if Salt River Reserve bring forward their questions, their requests for the federal government in this regard, I will carry that forward, as I've carried forward to other Indigenous governments that I've met at the intergovernmental council table and said, let's work together. Tell us what your asks are for the federal government and if it falls within if it's not unethical, immoral or illegal, then we will carry that message forward. So yes, if Salt River brings forward their asks, I will make sure that I carry that ask as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
