GNWT meets Metis
NWT Metis Nation president pleased after talk with GNWT cabinet members
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Monday, May 9, 2016
HAY RIVER
Garry Bailey, president of the Northwest Territory Metis Nation (NWTMN), was pleased with a recent meeting with the GNWT cabinet in Hay River.
"I believe it's a very valuable process," said Bailey. "It gives us a chance to talk government to government, and talk about our issues that we have on hand."
Premier Bob McLeod and his cabinet attended the meeting with the Metis Nation. It was the first meeting between the two governments since the start of the 18th Legislative Assembly.
According to a joint news release on April 26, Bailey and McLeod, who is also the minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations and the minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, agreed that bilateral meetings continue to strengthen the government-to-government relationship.
The meeting focused on areas of mutual interest, including the GNWT's fiscal situation, economic development in the NWTMN area, the Taltson Dam, cabin taxation, health care, housing, the GNWT's affirmative action statistics and the Regional Recruitment Program, negotiations for land, resources and governance, and more. When asked which of the topics were of particular importance to the NWTMN, Bailey told News/North, "Well, they're all important. We don't just bring issues there just to bring them up."
Such meetings help keep the NWTMN informed, he said.
"We're not behind the eight ball if something is happening. We get first-hand knowledge of everything and we're getting consulted on them," he said.
"We're getting the issues out up front and there are little side committees formed so that we can deal with some of the issues," he said
The meeting was the fourth since the NWTMN and the GNWT signed an intergovernmental agreement in 2012.
