Yes. We know that the government spends $28 billion a year on grants and contribution agreements for government programs and services. Typically, our land claim agreement obligations have been lumped into these contribution agreements. We don't feel that land claim obligations should be treated as a government program and service. For example, a marine biologist and three other scientists who are travelling up to Grise Fiord to study the eggshell thicknesses of thick-billed murres need a contribution agreement of $100,000. You need to make sure that they're spending the money on that process, and that they're not going to Las Vegas. It's about transparency, accountability, that kind of thing. Our agreement was signed in 1993. Canada knew of all the obligations that it was getting into. We are not opposed to audits and reporting requirements, but we don't see the need to jump through all the hoops and onerous administrative requirements of contributions agreements. Those are the reasons why we haven't been able to sign these agreements with the Government of Canada.
On October 25th, 2016. See this statement in context.