Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. It's a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about our progress in responding to these reports from the Auditor General.
You've already introduced my colleagues. Michel will be speaking about claims implementation issues, and Mary will be addressing the department's continuing efforts to improve first nations child and family services.
The reports of the Auditor General are taken very seriously at Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and are appreciated for the guidance and constructive analysis they provide on our performance in carrying out our department's mandate. They serve to confirm where we are on the right track and point out where we need to focus our efforts in the delivery of programs and services and the fulfillment of our responsibilities to aboriginal people and the residents of the north.
I'd like to speak briefly regarding two matters: our evolving role in the Yukon post-devolution and our work in support of the regulatory regime for land and resources in the Northwest Territories. These two issues both relate to essential elements of the government's integrated Northern Strategy, on which our department plays the leading role. They fall under at least three pillars of the strategy, those being economic and social development, environmental protection and improved governance. And, of course, our efforts in these areas also serve to support the fourth pillar—exercising our sovereignty over the north.
Even in these times of uncertainty over the economy, the north offers tremendous potential for economic development. Empowering the territorial and aboriginal governments of the north will not only provide northerners with greater control over decisions directly affecting them, it will also give them a greater stake in the development taking place in and around their communities. By ensuring that regulatory systems in the north are efficient and effective, we can eliminate barriers to development while at the same time ensuring that development is sustainable.
With regard to chapter 8 of the Auditor General's report of November 2003, which dealt with transferring federal responsibilities to the north, I would like to describe how INAC's role in the Yukon has significantly changed since the devolution of federal responsibilities for the management of land and resources to the territorial government in 2003. That transfer was significant for the territory in that it meant the assumption by the Yukon government of most of the remaining provincial-type authorities once held by the federal government. In terms of its responsibilities and jurisdictions, the territorial government now closely resembles a provincial government and has taken an important step in its political evolution. Concurrently, our department's role in the territory has also undergone a transformation. In working on the implementation of 11 Yukon first nation land claim and self-government agreements while continuing to provide services to six Indian Act bands in the Yukon and northern B.C., INAC has felt its role being influenced by the convergence of the aboriginal and northern agendas, as well as the self-government and Indian Act agendas.
We continue, however, to carry out residual responsibilities with respect to resource management in the Yukon. We are fully participating in the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Act review. We are also very much involved in promoting sustainable resource development and in contributing significantly to economic development in the Territory with federal support for geo-science, infrastructure and skills development initiatives and will continue to do so in the future.
INAC's chief role is now focused on intergovernmental collaboration and the strategic use of federal influence to support strategic outcomes of economic and political development. An interesting example of this post-devolution shift is with respect to establishing co-management regimes for the remediation of abandoned mine sites with Yukon government and affected first nations. Relying on strong intergovernmental relationships, successful implementation of these projects not only ensures sound environmental stewardship but also provides economic and business opportunities while strengthening local political development in the north.
From here we're looking ahead to effecting similar transformations in the other two territories where discussions on and preparations for the transfer of federal authorities are under way. We intend to profit from what we've learned from our devolution experience in the Yukon. In fact, these valuable lessons have already informed and improved our approaches to devolution in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
Another area of interest to the standing committee is INAC's response to chapter 6, which focused on the development of non-renewable resources in the Northwest Territories. INAC has made significant progress in many of the areas identified by the recommendations in this chapter, and I appreciate the opportunity to provide a brief overview of our key achievements.
Working in partnership with the NWT boards, we have completed a report on best practices of institutes of public governance, a report on NWT board training needs assessment, and a general orientation binder for new board members. To complement these practical, user-friendly documents, we initiated a board training program that provided training to over 160 board members and staff in 2008-09. The program provided essential skills and knowledge that the boards need to effectively manage renewable resources, ranging from administrative law and the management of hearings, to technical courses in mining and regulation.
The department has also coordinated and supported the piloting of a multi-year strategic planning exercise that has been successfully completed by four boards, and other boards have shown interest in undertaking it. On the recommendation to create an ongoing process of consultation between the heads of the boards and the senior officials of the department, the NWT Board Forum was created. It meets twice a year and is a well-respected and well-attended venue for executive dialogue on inter-board and intergovernmental resource management and development issues.
One tangible new initiative of the NWT Board Forum, supported by the department's secretariat, is a new board website. The website provides a single public portal to the resource management system in the NWT, with links to appropriate government sites and other useful sources of information.
Regular board reporting and communications have also improved, with many boards now issuing quarterly or monthly newsletters which identify completed activities, authorizations issued and future plans.
Of course, the development and management of non-renewable resources is not static, and to ensure the Department remains current with evolving sustainable development needs, we established the Northern Regulatory Improvement Initiative to deal with operational and strategic needs. Through this initiative Minister Strahl commissioned Mr. McCrank to review the regulatory systems across the north and provide recommendations. Using his "Road to Improvement" report, OAG Audits and other information, the Department is now preparing a comprehensive plan for advancing concrete changes to the regulatory regimes in the north which we hope to begin implementing this summer. One objective of this initiative is to help clarify the evolving roles and responsibilities of Boards consistent with the associated Acts, Regulations and Land Claim Agreements.
I would note that we have already started implementing many of Mr. McCrank's recommendations, notably in the areas of capacity-building for boards and their members, eliminating unnecessary duplication between the Nunavut Impact Review Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, and funding for the cumulative environmental impact monitoring program in the NWT. We're also working on the development of Nunavut resource management legislation and water regulations.
INAC will build on these achievements and the ongoing work in this area, not only because they demonstrate our responsiveness to the recommendations of the Auditor General, but because we are strengthening our working relationship with the boards, aboriginal groups, and stakeholders; the quality of non-renewable resource management in the NWT; and of course our overall accountability and transparency to Canadians.
Thank you very much.
I will certainly be pleased to take questions later on.
