Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin today's statement with an apology in this House.

On Friday, I referred to His Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales, as "ole Chuckie Boy." The Rules of the House do not allow us to speak disrespectfully of the Monarch, or any Member of his royal family, and I withdraw those remarks, Mr. Speaker.

But with all due respect, I will now deliver a statement, Mr. Speaker, that I believe it is time for Canada to end its relationship with the monarchy, and I think a good start in that House would be to remove that rule, Mr. Speaker.

Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I'd like to begin by I'd like to thank the Premier today who tabled the GNWT's territorial principles and interests, and I'm going to speak to that a bit in that in conjunction with this report. I think that's a great step, and I think this report is a great step in bringing some transparency to this issue.

I have spent lots of time, both in this committee and otherwise, trying to figure out and get to the heart of why we are not settling, I'm going to speak specifically and start with land claims, in the NWT most specifically the Akaitcho, Deh Cho, and Metis land...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Thebacha, that Committee Report 3019(2): Standing Committee on Government Operations report on the review of the 20202021 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner be received by the Assembly and referred to the committee as a whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I guess, you know, I recognize it's largely a symbolic position but from where I sit, one of the parts that kind of rubbed me wrong is the mandatory nature of swearing an oath of allegiance. You know, perhaps you're an Irish member and there's been some blood shed on both sides of that. Perhaps you're of Scottish descent and you got a grandpa who's a strong independence movement, Mr. Speaker. You know, there's no shortage of countries that have fought very hard to be free of our sweet Queen's rule.

But my question is, does our Premier support amending the rules of this House so...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, admittedly, I just must be out of touch because when I first heard that His Royal Highness was coming here, I just kind of expected that people would not be all that excited and that there was a pretty normal opinion to not support monarchy, and I was quite surprised. I guess I've been living under a bit of a rock when it comes to the royal family, Mr. Speaker.

But I guess my first question is I know that these royal visits usually cost Canada a few hundred thousand dollars, at least. But my question is was there any cost to the GNWT; did we have to chip in for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I look forward to the Minister providing a bit of an update on how that naming process goes.

And I guess I'll just carry up the valley, and I'll start with the river named after Alexander Mackenzie. Fine explorer. You know, he did some good mapping. But ultimately his claim to that river is that it wasn't leading to the Pacific. So I'm just wondering if, you know, many of us don't refer to the Mackenzie River by that name. We use Deh Cho already. I'm wondering if there are any plans to remove the Mackenzie River name? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement today, I spoke about renaming places. And the first one I'd like to ask about is our Heritage Centre, which I believe is timely, as the Prince of Wales, whom it's named after, was just recently visiting it. And Mr. Speaker, I think it's long overdue that we rename this place. And I just don't really believe there's much connection to the Prince of Wales and our history and culture. And as a bit of a sidenote, I note the Welsh independence movement is gaining steam so maybe one day there won't even be a Prince of Wales and we'll just be forced to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe it is time to rename some things. In the last year and half of this Assembly, I propose we start with the lake just down the street here, Great Slave Lake, Mr. Speaker.

Great Slave Lake, it was named after a Cree word “Awokanek” which refers to the Dene people being "Great Slaves." Mr. Speaker, it's 2022. I don't know why we still have a name that honours the history of slavery between warring nations long ago that was essentially picked by European explorers.

Mr. Speaker, I love that lake, it is a great lake, but its name does not do it justice. There are...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I think there would be one last step in that perhaps is to just give it five official names and we could knock "Mackenzie" off the list there.

And similarly, I'd propose that for the mountains. I actually don't think many people know that the Mackenzie Mountains is not Alexander Mackenzie, the explorer; it's Alexander Mackenzie, the second prime minister, you know, well known for the Indian Act, an architect of Indigenous people's genocide. So I'm wondering if there are any plans to work with I recognize that one, it borders with the Yukon so we have to work...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear that. And I think it's an important discussion to have with the people of NWT. And along those same lines, you know, I think there's been consistent work to stop using the term "slavey", to stop referring to things and, you know, the use of "slave", but obviously our lake, Great Slave Lake, is named after that history. I'm just wondering if the Minister can speak to whether we can put forth the same plan to rename Great Slave Lake. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.