Natural Resources committee  Impact and benefit agreements are what lead to success, a strong unified community and strong unified regions where land claim authorities or aboriginal authorities are not battling to the lowest common denominator. So unity is a very important explanatory factor. If there is uni

Natural Resources committee  There's very little to do with enforcement. The federal government has no role in their enforcement because they are private contractual agreements. In terms of where the federal government is, in aboriginal governments we're trying to tie IBAs to environmental assessment. We t

Natural Resources committee  I have just one reflection, although I think it's been well said by my two colleagues. The impact and benefit agreements have been absolutely fundamental to aboriginal business in the north. Those agreements in themselves require the secure unbundling of contracts so that thing

Natural Resources committee  Yes.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for the question. We certainly can't meet the workforce needs of the north with northern labour. A lot is forthcoming in the Northwest Territories if there's transportation, if a lot of other factors fall into place. But mines that are proposed and moving forward ar

Natural Resources committee  It's already had that impact. The trust is being broken. I think you're also pointing to something that hasn't been raised here today, and that is cumulative effects. The pace and scale of northern resource development could be quite fast and furious. The project proponents are

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for that question. I don't have a legal background in this area. I've been a party to and a part of consultation efforts over the years. In terms of environmental assessments and layers of regulations, there is an environmental review followed by water licensing and pe

Natural Resources committee  The jury's out. My fear is that it will weaken it, especially because it's coming from on high and because it's an arbitrary limit on what needs to happen. As I've articulated, I think that real questions, the good questions, come in once something's well described. So it needs

Natural Resources committee  Thank you. I think the one thing that none of us want to see across Canada is legacy mines. We already have many of them that spot the north and all of Canada. We pay a lot for these. Giant Mine is a really good example right now, which is costing the federal government millions

Natural Resources committee  I think housing is absolutely fundamental. And as the minister suggested, transportation is important, because in one of the aboriginal communities I work with, putting $800,000 into a winter road lowered the cost of living for citizens by 30% this year. There are really big impa

Natural Resources committee  It's good to have it early. Right now we're seeing a very strange dynamic that is echoed worldwide, where a lot of young men are leaving because of the high-paying jobs. In the high school I'm most familiar with, the second-highest population to graduate is older women. Young men

Natural Resources committee  It's a positive thing, but having grade 12 is absolutely fundamental to future success.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for the question. Education is clearly one of the issues. There are barriers to advancement that are based in people's confidence and their literacy and numeracy abilities. But they're deeper than that. Unless there are people who are being advanced, there are no role

Natural Resources committee  Absolutely. One of the wonderful things about the mines having impact and benefit agreements is that there are dollars that are free to apply to things like education. For example, the Tlicho Nation has $800,000 yearly that they allocate to scholarships for people who are pursui

Natural Resources committee  The social side of work is something that's quite neglected, so the barriers Mr. Miltenberger is referring to, such as money-management skills, the social side, the family side--managing your family, being away for two weeks--are pretty complex. Getting to a mine and managing all