Finance committee  If we turn the clock back about 25 years, before diamonds were discovered here in the Northwest Territories, we had virtually nobody in the aboriginal community working in our mining industry. There were some, but not a lot. We probably had a handful of businesses that could serv

Finance committee  We're joining in on this ask with the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada, because it's a national ask as well. It's a tentative thing when it's been going from year to year. We're not even sure if we're going to get a year, and it's really important for companies

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and members of this committee for inviting us to appear. Please accept our kudos for coming north to Yellowknife for this meeting. My name is Tom Hoefer. I'm the executive director of the Chamber of Mines. I'm joined by Gary Vivian, our president,

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If the question is whether we would we support the devolution bill as it is, with your...let me say the committee's inability to make the changes that we ask for, I think we would say yes. But what we would have to do then, and what we will certainly do anyway, is that we have an

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Let me speak to our position. If we look back in history to the establishment of the boards, I can say that probably by the time Mr. McCrank was brought into the game we were starting to face a lot of divergence in the processes the boards were using. I think each board was sta

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The challenge that we're in right now, if you don't mind, is that—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm not trying to eat up all your time. I'm trying to give you a fair answer. I think what's happened now is that our companies have started to work very well with a lot of the boards. The boards are actually starting to work in a good style with companies, and companies are sa

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We did.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We had two rounds of consultations with AANDC, two opportunities to review—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and the folks here. My name is Tom Hoefer. I'm the executive director of the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines. We are an industry association and champions for mining in the two territories. Our review of Bill C-15 was also done collectively with o

Natural Resources committee  If you look at the Northwest Territories...I'm going to give you an example. When the three diamond mines were built in relatively rapid succession, there was a strong opposite-side push for protected areas. There was this big fear of big land grabs by the mining industry. So the

Natural Resources committee  I'm a Canadian, too, and I have to stand with Canadian patriotism. I also worked at the Diavik Mine, and we were owned 60% by Rio Tinto, which is a British-Australian firm, and 40% by a Canadian firm. I would say that company as well took a leadership role. Rio Tinto was head of

Natural Resources committee  Certainly, the NWT government keeps statistics for the Northwest Territories. The government has required all the mines to sign socio-economic agreements. Under those agreements they report on a regular basis, sometimes twice a year but certainly once a year, and then they aggreg

Natural Resources committee  I'm not sure how detailed they get, but I'd certainly make the same observation, that because the educational levels in the aboriginal community in the north are lower than in the non-aboriginal community, most of those jobs are at the entry level, the semi-skilled, the apprentic