Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I wanted to make sure that the chair of the new board had the ability to send people to a region to allow the people in the region to see their application being disposed of in that region, and I think that's written into the legislation.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There is a definite concern that you're taking away a regional decision-making body from a region where people could conceiveably go and see that board at work. We took that into consideration in section 104 of the existing act. It allows the chairperson to designate a smaller group of the main board to go and conduct the business of the board as far as applications are concerned.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, what we've done is that we've written that into the new bill. The chairperson will have the ability to send those people forth—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, I think there was knowledge about what I was doing. We had discussions. This term “super-board” came up a long time ago. I think we have tried to make it available to the chairperson of the new board to address those regional issues by sending people to adjudicate in the region from whence that application comes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That is correct.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I've been unable to ascertain that myself. I've said to people, “Look, it's in the land claim, so tell me why we can't pick this up by legislation and enact it?” I think I got the feeling that first nations aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories—and in fact across Canada—are deeply welded to the land and water.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At the very beginning of this process, I went and looked at the pertinent land claims and legislation. I took the liberty of going back and looking at the Dene-Métis claim, the comprehensive claim, which was not ratified. It was not signed. It was not agreed to.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, I went back and looked at each of the settled land claims. I think it's been pointed out to the committee before that each of the claims—and these claims trump legislation—say that where, by legislation, an area larger than the settlement area is formed to be taken care of by a larger board, then the regional panels can go away or they can stay.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It wasn't for me to decide on the framework—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That is correct.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That is correct.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, I think the draft framework that's being discussed is a framework agreement about how to go about doing this, as opposed to what I was doing, which was going out to engage people. So it wasn't in my purview to deal with that framework.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think the response I've received from most of the first nation aboriginal governments in the Northwest Territories is that they're opposed to the structure that I recommended to the minister.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  My role was to look at the regulatory system, to look at changes that could be made to the regulatory system without disturbing land claims, within the laws of Canada, to make recommendations to the federal government, to the minister, and then to engage people in discussions on those proposed changes.