Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'd also like to congratulate Brian on his retirement. Anyone that can last in this building 18 years deserves to retire and deserves a huge reward. I'd also like to congratulate Mr. Powder for taking over; he couldn't have picked a better person. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today I want to honour a Northwest Territories resident who's doing exceptional work to help honour Indigenous veterans from the territory. The person doing this work is our SergeantatArms in the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Floyd Powder.

A veteran himself, he is one of 12 Indigenous researchers from across Canada supporting the efforts of the Last Post Fund and its Indigenous Veterans Initiative.

Madam Speaker, created in 1999, the Last Post Fund is focused on making sure all deceased veterans receive dignified burial and a permanent resting place with a headstone. The...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today, I’d like to talk about the bravery and sacrifice of Canadians, both past and present, who have helped, and continue to help, shape, and protect the foundation of our society freedom.

For generations, men and women have heeded the call to protect democracy. They have left their families, their dreams of higher education, a goodpaying job, their desire to create music or art, all so we can live our lives the way we choose.

Madam Speaker, they protected us from evil so we could enjoy the peace and prosperity we know today. Their stories can be found in cities...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'd like to recognize Jennifer Wicks who is a constituent of Range Lake. Welcome to the House.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It's hard to disagree with things that are philosophical in nature so absolutely I agree that, you know, we need to mediate some conclusions to some of the outstanding issues. When I began my term, when I was able to meet with Indigenous governments and talk to them, two of the largest outstanding issues were the core principals and interests and then the other one was the publishing the mandate. We did both. We heard that those were the major issues, and so we published our mandates and we took away the core principles and interests, and yet we're still having...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today I will deliver my first of four Member's statements this week about Remembrance Day. Since this is the last session of the 19th Legislative Assembly we will get to commemorate the sacrifices made in the name of freedom, I wanted to take this week to talk about a number of themes that I feel are important to recognize.

As many know, I am the daughter of a veteran of the Second World War. My father went off to war in the name of freedom, one of many Canadians who fought for the ability to have the freedoms and society that we have today.

Remembrance Day is a time...

Madam Speaker, I'd like to redirect that to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Again, I absolutely agree with that. The thing is, Madam Speaker, it's really important to recognize, like I said, that it's not as easy as just one person making decisions. There's three parties. When I had first heard about the key principles and the interests, like I said we took them off the table. But that didn't stop things. The point is that whenever I hear of a major issue at the tables, and I do get regular updates on every table that's going on, if we're close and there's a standing issue, then I will try to negotiate with the department and find out what is...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I agree that I'd like to see at least one claim settled within the term of this government. We have been focusing on the relationship building that was a little bit fractured in some of the Indigenous governments. We took a beating with COVID. We had a couple years that we couldn't meet in person, so that affected. But we have been listening, and we have been working, and we do feel that we're close with a number of them, although there's three parties to every table. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I absolutely agree with that. I know that Northerners want to see faster progress on the negotiations, and we continue to work towards that. However, Madam Speaker, it's really important that all Members realize that this is about the Indigenous governments. This is their future. So sometimes when we want to hurry things, it may be at the detriment of all of our governments. So I have a mandate to make sure that I take care of the public government, that I try to meet Indigenous governments, that I'm honest with Indigenous governments, and we have clarity in all of...