Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, I'm very happy to respond to that question. In terms of the wildlife issues, our one concern was with respect to the appointments to boards. We heard about this through the course of the audit. When we examined it in detail, however, we did find that the department

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There were six departments in the report. Specifically with respect to INAC, right now, as the department is organized, the majority of the responsibility for implementing the agreement rests with the implementation branch. We did a fair bit of work within that branch. Mind you,

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, we began our audit in approximately April 2006, and completed the substantive examination work by May 2007.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Certainly there were, Mr. Chair. We visited Inuvik and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation at least three times, I believe, over the course of the audit. We visited five of the six communities that were included within the audit itself. A fair bit of the audit examination work in

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Certainly. One of the aspects we did find in the course of the audit was that in the original transfer of land, there were some errors. The way these were described to us, and the easiest visual of them I can provide you, is that when they were looking at the communities, they d

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  To my knowledge, they did not go to court. There certainly is a reasonably thick paper trail of correspondence back and forth and concerns that have been expressed. I believe there's a provision in the agreement saying that extra costs to the territorial government arising out of

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  My understanding to the end of our audit was that the correspondence was quite clear that the federal government did not intend to absorb the costs or see them as legitimate costs. So to my knowledge there was no reaching of an agreement in terms of compensation.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I have not heard of one.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, my understanding is that the $10 million economic development fund was provided from INAC to I believe a subsidiary of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation when the agreement was signed. There is also a string of payments, as you know, controlling $152 million as well.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That was beyond the scope of our audit.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Perhaps I could address the question, Mr. Chair, in this way. In paragraph 3.5 we note that there are today 21 comprehensive land claims agreements, and that the department is organized with approximately 25 staff—approximately one person per agreement—on the implementation side.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, there is a lot of economic activity up in that region in the Beaufort Sea right now, completely surrounding the Inuvialuit settlement region, because of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline discussions and the exploration that's going on up there now. I can tell you on a personal n

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That would be a question better placed to the Inuvialuit. I know they are active within Inuvik.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. In 1986 the policy was changed within the department to require that there be an implementation plan for land claim agreements.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This agreement does predate that policy. But I do take your point: a policy does not guarantee implementation.