Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to continue on with the Member’s statement I presented yesterday to the House in terms of working with the elders in the Sahtu region.
I have reviewed some of my correspondence to previous governments, previous responses by Ministers and previous Member’s statements I made in regard to having this government own up and step up the plate in terms of helping their elders. I do want to say thank you to the Minister I heard today in terms of the increase to the fuel subsidy. That certainly goes a long way with our elders. However, I believe there is more to do for our elders.
I thought about this last night. When I heard the Minister responsible for Seniors say they are willing to move on to a discussion with a secretariat for the elders in terms of combining the programs and services for our elders, I thought: I will just leave it alone and get on to another issue, as there are other issues in the Sahtu that could be certainly raised in the House. But I said: no; the elders have given up too much of their lives, too much of their knowledge, too much of their guidance for me to take no for an answer from the Minister and this government.
I also did some research. The federal government committed, I think in 2005, $13 million to set up a national secretariat for elders. These are old people in our communities who have given up their lives and have for 30 or 40 years given their knowledge and guidance to young leaders. It is our obligation, as well as our responsibility as young people, to carry on and to look after them. They have lived on the land. If they had that type of attitude on the land about sharing, we wouldn’t be sitting here today.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
