Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the Arctic Inspiration Prize will continue on an annual basis. This year it was aligned with the Northern Lights Conference in Ottawa. The Northern Lights Conference only happens every second year. My understanding is that the Arctic Inspiration Prize will move to every second year. Next year, it will be hosted in Whitehorse. I expect that, the year after that, it will be back at the Northern Lights Conference. I expect that it will continue to move around every second year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That money will be used to have a push to try to significantly advance, if not finalize, the outstanding land claims in the next couple of years. It will be for negotiators. Also, the Ministerial Special Representative in the reports made some recommendations for our government to play a much enhanced facilitation role in having Aboriginal governments meet to resolve outstanding issues amongst themselves. I think we are at a point where we made revised offers to the NWT Metis Nation and to the Akaitcho government. We are optimistic that we will be making a similar offer...

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Before I speak specifically on the Akaitcho, I should point out that, in other areas, we have entered into agreements with the federal government, ourselves, and the Aboriginal government to provide for capacity building. I think we are having some good success there.

Also, with the Akaitcho government, we have seconded at least one employee to the Akaitcho to help with the work that they are doing on land claims and self-government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. All I can say is we have identified $84,000 in this business plan. If it is approved, that money will be available. In the past, we have made requests, and it has not always been approved. You can take that situation as money is pretty tight. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Our biggest concern was that there was no accompanying federal economic development strategy; there was no vision for the North or for the Arctic. I guess the federal government has indicated and they are well under way in undertaking work to develop an Arctic Policy Framework. We have written to them and agreed to participate in the development of that framework. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We would endeavour to do that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We would be very supportive of providing increased funding for a woman campaign, especially with elections coming up in less than two years. We will be seeking supplementary funding if it has not been approved already. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. As long as you understand that the concern with the red alert was that there was no federal economic development strategy in place to replace the fact that there would be trillions of dollars of oil and gas left in the ground. So part of the Arctic Policy Framework would be a part of that. Also, reviewing the revised new fiscal arrangement with Aboriginal governments will be a large part of that, as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess the easy way would be just to say no to all requests, but I think it would be more appropriate for us to look at developing funding guidelines. It would assist us as we get these requests. Thank you, Mr. Chair.