Public Accounts committee  I don't know the details.

Public Accounts committee  I can look into that, sir.

Public Accounts committee  Well, an arrangement has been reached between the Inuvialuit and the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Public Accounts committee  No. Indeed, what's happened is that the Government of the Northwest Territories has reached an arrangement with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation on access requirements over Inuvialuit lands, so there hasn't been a requirement to buy or lease back lands transferred to the Inuvialuit, to which the Government of the Northwest Territories requires continuing access—for instance, sewage lagoons, and those sorts of structures.

Public Accounts committee  I don't know the exact details of the arrangement. I was just advised that they have come to a happy conclusion on how to ensure access, because the Inuvialuit have an interest in there being access to those lands as well, because it's for community facilities, such as lagoons, and those sorts of structures, which are of interest of course to the Inuvialuit living in the same communities.

Public Accounts committee  Not from the federal government.

Public Accounts committee  I suspect there are financial arrangements between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Inuvialuit, yes.

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  May I respond to that? What I would say is that the land claim agreement is not the whole story in any given geographic area. It's an important component, and it's trying to accomplish certain things, but there's a world outside of a land claim agreement that affects that particular geographic location.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The Cree population of northern Quebec I think is in the order of 14,000 or 15,000. I don't have the numbers on the Inuit of northern Quebec, actually, at this point. We can get those three numbers for the committee, if that would be of interest to you.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The whole question of objectives versus obligations has been a particularly interesting discussion between us and the Auditor General. Let me put it this way: the obligations themselves are important and are significant, and we need to regard the obligations inside land claim agreements as a critical piece.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm suggesting that the objectives are a statement of what the parties to an agreement hope will come about as a result of the settling of the land claim agreement, but there will be many other factors not necessarily within the control of the parties to the agreement. So I'm trying to draw the distinction between those things the parties to the agreement can directly affect, and those things that are going to rely on other things happening.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. The challenge of implementing land claim agreements is a big one. I think for many people the signing of a deal is the exciting moment, and everybody is consumed with getting a good deal and getting it in place. The work of implementing, as you have said, is a critical stage.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's not so much a question of resources; the resources are increased as new agreements are put in place. The task at hand for us is to more wisely invest the resources we have as we move through the implementation business. So we try to take advantage of the advice of the Auditor General and others to figure out better ways of implementing the agreements.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The primary way is when we're dealing with a group on a particular self-government arrangement, so with the Inuit of northern Quebec, we would have been talking about dispute resolution as part of their governance. In the case when we're not dealing with negotiation of a new self-government arrangement, in a case of some longstanding comprehensive claims, we need to explore, in partnership with the other parties, ways of developing trust essentially because the root of solving disputes is for parties to trust each other and be willing to work together on thorny issues.