Auditor General Fraser, thank you for being here.
Commissioner Vaughan and the department officials, thank you so much.
I appreciated the testimony. It was very enlightening. I appreciate the good work done by each of you.
I also had an opportunity to read the testimony of by Commissioner Vaughan a week ago at the public accounts committee. The Auditor General made a comment that there are also profound changes taking place in the north as a result of climate change and because of long-range transport of air pollutants.
Commissioner Vaughan, I think that came up a week ago. Cynthia Wright mentioned a lot of focus on mercury in the north. It's surprising that over 95% of the mercury deposited in Canada comes from foreign sources. So on the chemical management plan and biomonitoring, these are new projects that give us an indication of some problems and some improvements, but also keep a very close look and make sure the north is sustainable.
I want to focus on some of the agreements.
Auditor General, you mentioned that in the Northwest Territories four land claims agreements have been finalized, and that there are four other land claim agreements and ten self-government agreements that are under negotiation. You mention that for those areas where there has been finalization, things work much better than they do in those areas where there hasn't.
Mr. Borbey, in your presentation, you said, and I'm reading from one of your paragraphs here:
Meeting the needs of all parties is extremely complicated and challenging, and this is why conclusion of land claims is such a lengthy process. As a rule, Canada has not worked with Aboriginal groups to develop land use plans until claims are settled. It is far easier to negotiate land use plans where key questions of rights and ownership have been confirmed by a land claim agreement.
I have a concern that I would like to ask you about. Why are aboriginal groups in the Northwest Territories suffering financial hardship because of significant delays in receiving the funding they need to support their self-government negotiations?