Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the last couple of days I have been working with the Sahtu elders at a conference here. Mr. Speaker, just sitting with the elders for the last couple of days really opened my eyes in terms of the type of support our elders are asking us people here in the Assembly, our communities, in the Government of Canada.
The elders feel that they have lost their status and their role in the community governments and structures and the teachers of our way of life. They saw that a new way of life has moved them away from this family structure that is so critical to the aboriginal way of life and how we survive as aboriginal people and how we are going to go forward.
The elders talked about no longer have they enjoyed the status of respect of elders in the community and that other professions have taken over their role. They feel that they have been pushed aside. Now they are more bothersome to the people in terms of how they are being looked at in terms of advice, leading the people in certain laws that they need to practice.
Mr. Speaker, I ask on behalf of the people that I worked with in the last couple of days and the elders are asking, what can this government do to support them in the communities in terms of programs and services? How can we have our elders play a different role in this government in terms of what type of laws that should be brought forward, what type of laws need to be reintroduced back into our school? Even the school system should be at least 50 percent of our elders being there as teachers and professors. How come they are not in the school in that magnitude, Mr. Speaker? Can this government look at an elders’ advocate? It certainly is something that Mrs. Groenewegen talked about some time ago in terms of a council ran by the elders helping us with our issues that we have to face today.
The elders are very critical today in terms of the survival of the nation of people on this land here and they need to play a critical role in the way we are going forward. Even Mr. Premier talked about rebuilding relationships. The elders hope they are part of that relationship building. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Michael McLeod.
