Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think some of what I want to say will reinforce what Dr. MacDonald has mentioned. Because we have gone from a situation where we only have one mine operating to a whole number coming into production and going through the regulatory process at this point, we're looking at how best to put our people to work.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'd like to emphasize the high cost of transportation. That loops back to our need for harbours. If we had harbours, then the cost of offloading our boats would drop down quite a bit, and this would add a level of efficiency. Again, good airports are necessary to bring fresh food in, and they have to be maintained.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm just getting started.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  With the fishery, there's money to be made. Cultural industries are almost purely Inuit, and tourism also has great promise for local communities.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's a really good question, and I could talk all morning if you'd allow me. But I'd like to start by posing our priorities. The first priority is mining, the second is the fishery, the third is cultural industries, and the fourth is tourism. Within each of those industries there is a need for training.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If I can speak to that briefly, at this point we have engineers who are working on some design options. We expect within a month or so that we'll actually have some preliminary recommendations. There are three options being considered. With our high tide, the other comment I'd like to make is that the engineers are saying it's at the outer extreme of engineering, the difficulty in providing a dock with a 10-metre tide.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There were over 90 recommendations within that report, and a number of them were recommendations on how government could work better. I don't think there were a lot of big-vision items there that impact directly on economic development. In terms of those statements, it talks more about a better style of life and helping people find work, so sort of moving from poverty into the wage economy.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Overall, I believe our civil service is now 53% Inuit. The top levels are actually higher than that. At the entry level, in the clerical-type jobs, it is quite high as well. I believe it is 67%. The biggest gap is in the middle, in the professions, where professional qualifications are required.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, we have territorial powers. We would like to move towards provincial powers. Devolution is the next step towards equivalency to a province. You thought $1 billion was a lot.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's the most significant thing, sir. We are 20% of Canada's land mass. So as a territory, we have few people, and we're seriously spread out. I don't think there's a town anywhere in Canada that requires 25 airports, 25 health centres, and more than 25 schools. The cost of providing these services to our people is incredibly expensive.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Russell. It's a very good question. At this point, the discussions on devolution have just begun. We would like to be a “have” territory rather than a “have not” territory. Currently our government operates on $1 billion of transfer payments a year. We are at the beginning of a new age in the mining industry.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Chair. Good morning, everybody. Unfortunately, the minister, the Honourable Peter Taptuna, is not available. He ran into weather problems on his trip here from Yellowknife yesterday, so he hasn't arrived. Unfortunately, we didn't find that out until about 4:30 yesterday afternoon, so we have not had time to change the speech or have it retranslated.