Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the presenters. It's always a very interesting discussion when ministers join us.
Most of you know that I've been advocating for indigenous rights my whole life and trying to make sure that our indigenous people have a better quality of life. The reason I got involved in politics was the extreme poverty that I witnessed as I grew up in the small indigenous communities in the north. I listened to our elders speak about signing treaties and signing the scrip so that we could coexist. However, what was in the agreements was not honoured or not carried out.
We have seen, right across the Northwest Territories, people working toward signing modern treaties. These treaties are intended to provide clarity. In the Northwest Territories, we have 15 tables where people are discussing different issues. Hopefully, we're going to come to a point where everybody will come to an agreement.
The Prime Minister was very clear in 2015 that we would be moving forward in a nation-to-nation type of arrangement. However, there are still some policies that are old and that do not fit. Some of them irritate me quite a bit. The comprehensive claim is the one that I think we need to pay some attention to and see if there's a way to replace it.
I want to ask Gary Anandasangaree a question about where things are, what kind of work is being done by him and the department, his office, to advance recognition of rights in Northwest Territories. We heard what is going on in B.C. It seemed to work for them. We're very keen to see if that's something that could be considered in the Northwest Territories. Also, could he give us an update on what he's doing to resolve some of the outstanding land claims and self-government negotiations that are happening?