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(speech delivered April 22, 2012, Palais des Congres)

Good evening and welcome to the International Polar Year 2012 Conference.

I am pleased to be here to give you a quick snapshot of the Northwest Territories and share some of what makes us unique in Canada and in the world.

The Northwest Territories has a population of just over 43,000 people living in an area of over 1.3 million square kilometers - That’s bigger than the area of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan combined.

YELLOWKNIFE (April 20, 2012) – The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) joins with the Gwich’in and all the people of the Northwest Territories to mark the 20^th anniversary of the signing of the Gwich’in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement. Premier McLeod offered his congratulations to the Gwich’in Tribal Council at Dene Leadership Meetings in Inuvik earlier this week.

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April 18, 2012 - Thank you. On behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories, I would like to welcome you here today. The inauguration of the Inuvik Satellite Station Facility antenna is another important step forward for the town of Inuvik and the whole Northwest Territories.

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February 8, 2012

Background

February 8, 2012 - Mr. Speaker, when our new government first met last October, we agreed on a vision for the Northwest Territories. Our vision is of strong individuals, families and communities sharing the benefits and responsibilities of a unified, environmentally sustainable and prosperous Northwest Territories.  Developing an anti-poverty strategy is part of achieving this vision. It is linked with all of our goals and will ultimately form part of the basis for our government’s coordinated approach to social issues.

(Yellowknife)   February  7th,  2012  –  The  Legislative  Assembly  and  the  Government  of  the Northwest Territories are celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne. This anniversary is known as the Diamond Jubilee.

February 7, 2012 - Mr. Speaker, although we have a small population, the Northwest Territories is a large and diverse territory.  We live in 33 communities spread over several regions. We share the territory with seven regional Aboriginal governments. We all have our own mandates, priorities and interests unique to each of our groups. Sometimes our individual priorities align with each other and sometimes it is more difficult to find consensus on specific issues.

 YELLOWKNIFE (January 17, 2012) – The GNWT and Tlicho have concluded government-to-government meetings. These were the first meetings with all GNWT Cabinet ministers and all Tlicho Government Executive Council members since the establishment of the Tlicho Government six years ago. While previous territorial governments met with the Tlicho leadership, this is the first time the Tlicho Government and entire GNWT Cabinet have met bilaterally to discuss how the two will work together.