Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last night I had the pleasure of attending a birthday party at Aven Manor. The birthday party was for Mary Louise King, a former resident of Tu Nedhe who has lived at the manor for the past few years. Mary Louise doesn’t know for sure which day her birthday really is, because she was first registered by the treaty party that went to Fort Resolution in July 1900, and that makes her at least 105 years old.

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Mary Louise even got up last night and did a little jig.

---Laughter

She’s a very alive, spry lady. She spent a lot of her early life in the Reliance area and then later on at Rocher River and Fort Resolution. Eventually she moved to Yellowknife and settled here a few years ago. She was married first to a man by the name of Lafferty and then later on her second marriage was to Francois King Beaulieu. She’s pointed out to people that the Francois King Beaulieu she married is the big Francois King Beaulieu, not the little Francois King Beaulieu, because he was a little skinny guy and she wanted to make that clear.

She’s also a lady who never wore black. In fact, her grand-niece last night was telling me that this is the first time she’s seen her in black. She always considered black to be a colour for old people. I hope the Legislative Assembly will join me in wishing her a very happy 105th birthday. We don’t know exactly the day, but it was celebrated last night. I wish her many more birthdays.

I also want to pay tribute to many of the other residents at the Aven Manor. I talked to Art Dodman, Les Rocher, Catherine Turner and a lot of others. Art Dodman told me he watches every day what goes on in here. I’m sure many of them do. I also want to pay tribute to the staff at Aven Manor. They are a great and dedicated group of people who are very much loved by the residents in that manor and I encourage all the Members here to someday visit. There are people from all over the Territories at the manor. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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