Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I was in Fort Good Hope I sat down with an elder named Jim Pierrot. Jim Pierrot and I sat there and had some tea and Jim Pierrot said to me while talking with me over a cup of tea for about two and a half hours, and one statement he said to me, “Our land is holy.” I couldn’t get what he meant when he said “our land is holy.” I’ve been thinking about it for awhile, Mr. Speaker. Our elders tell us these certain phases for us to figure it out and to work on. One of the things that as young people when you go see the elders, as our parents tell us, is that when you go sit with the elder, they’ll give you words and you try to live and work with the elders’ words. Mr. Speaker, the elders have always talked about the animals on our land, and the elders from Colville Lake talk about living with the caribou. They have a special relationship with the caribou, and they talk very strongly on this issue. We need to go in to see these elders and bring them into this Assembly and have them talk about these important things that are affecting us today.
Mr. Speaker, the elders also talk about the water, the importance of water. The Minister of ENR has initiated a strategy in terms of dealing with water. As we speak today, they’re pouring poison in the Mackenzie River through the Slave River, through Great Slave Lake down to the Mackenzie River. There’s actually poison coming down our river here and we’re doing nothing about it. We have strategies, we are doing things that we want to look at, but my people down the Mackenzie Valley are very, very concerned about the water issue, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we’re talking about our future today and it’s very important that we listen to our elders, bring them into the Assembly and talk about our future. We take care of the elders; the elders surely will take care of us and give us strong words to live by to do what is right in the future and to do what is right will make the people very happy, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am talking about our survival as people in the Northwest Territories, aboriginals, Metis, Dene, Inuvialuit. Mr. Speaker, I am talking about our survival as a nation of people, that we have done for thousands and thousands of years. We have only done this by the advice and the guidance of our elders and to this government, we need to practice that today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
