Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. First with respect to whether or not concerns were expressed about the implementation of land claims agreements in total, there were and there always will be, I suppose, to some extent, some people thinking they should move faster. I don't have any comment on whether or not the federal government is performing its role in completing the land claims agreements, and implementing them or not, with the exception of the complaints that not enough money was put into funding the various boards, and that does go to capacity issues.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There probably are a whole bunch of different rankings by whoever puts them forward.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much for the question. You're right. I was asked to take a look at that possible office. I have two comments to make. One is that I think the office that's in southern Canada dealing with the major projects can be very successful, because the maze of trying to work your way through and coordinate even within the federal government milieu, let alone within the provincial or territorial milieu, is difficult.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll just finish by saying that I have no answer in terms of capacity, but I think there would be great interest in somebody performing that role in the north.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  First of all, Gabrielle Mackenzie—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The lack of reappointment of Gabrielle Mackenzie-Scott occurred after I had finished my report, in actual fact. I'm just saying what I've heard from those in the north, including the NWT government, the Nunavut and Yukon governments, the local communities, the regulatory bodies themselves, and the industry.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes and no. At the end of the day, I think most of the recommendations reflected what we talked about in Yellowknife, and all generations were around the table. But if you drilled down a little further, I think you would find that those in the younger generation, particularly from the local community, were more interested in seeing some progress made in development than some of the older generation groups.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That was put to me by a number of associations--the Mining Association and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers--that rank the different jurisdictions on their friendliness to development. I know that if you looked at them without drilling down much further, they would put the Yukon much higher than the NWT.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The answer to the second question is yes. Obviously the issue of co-management of the resources is currently in place. I still maintain--as I think I have as part of the theme of that report--that northern influence and local development influence are very important. I'm suggesting that the way that comes about is through the land use plans, where areas are decided as to whether or not they are subject to development and, secondly, with respect to the composition of the regulatory body, if it were restructured into one, where the local community has some say as to who's going to be on that board.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I came up with it based on what I heard, Mr. Bevington. The process, the delays in making appointments and so on, were the subject of debate, but this is the first I've heard of anyone saying that the appointments that were actually made were inappropriate.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If the system had applied in Abitibi district to what's going on in the north right now, you would not have had any development in Abitibi, in my view. The response by the Northwest Territories government, I think, is not the correct response. They don't think there should be restructuring, and I do.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are 22 specific recommendations and then there's the restructuring recommendation. My own view is that the restructuring is the most important recommendation, but coupled with that is that the land use plans have to be completed. None of this, by the way, in terms of my recommendations, would occur overnight.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, okay.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Can you hold for just a second to make sure this thing is working.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I hope not. Let me just make sure I understand the question. The question relates to the cabinet directive that was the foundation for my report, and it did come out in May, although it came out publicly in July 2008. You are referring to a response by the Northwest Territories government.