Thank you, Chairperson McLeod.
Madam Chair, I'm very happy to see all the witnesses who have appeared today from the north. It's really refreshing to have a chance to talk about a very important issue.
This is an issue that's been fairly confusing for a lot of us, because the regulatory process in the north was working well. It was negotiated in land claims. We had agreement from indigenous governments. Industry was familiar with it. The Government of Northwest Territories was working with it. Communities were satisfied. We had comfort that we had a voice.
I'm not sure who asked for a review, who wanted to make the changes. However, today we heard from Neil McCrank, the guy who designed and wrote the recommendations, and his experiences with Alberta—Alberta oil and gas. He doesn't have a whole lot of experience in indigenous issues or indigenous affairs, or any involvement that has included decision-making by indigenous people. He also pointed out an important thing that we have to make note of. His recommendation was to include land use planning before this super-board concept came forward, so it seems that the government of the day cherry-picked one piece and threw it in. That brings us to where we are now.
My first question is to the Grand Chief of Tlicho.
This was an agreement that came forward as part of your negotiations. In terms of trust, what has that done to your government's relationship with the federal government? My second question is, what has it cost you to deal with this issue since 2008?