Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was thinking last night about today’s significant celebration. Hearing some of the Members this morning, I’m not going to do a song this morning. There are some songs I’d like to do. For example, If These Walls Could Talk, or Mansion on the Hill. There are lots of songs. Anyway, I’m going to skip over that.
I want to say, in all seriousness, I want to give recognition to all who made it possible so that we are standing here today, when we look at the significant changes that we made as a government or as a people of the Northwest Territories from living in the bush on the land to our small communities, to having people in Ottawa at one time make decisions for us in the Northwest Territories and actually having an Assembly in the Northwest Territories in Ottawa, and slowly, over time, evolving to the pioneers of our first MLAs and Ministers, to bring it into the Yellowknife Inn and having sessions there. Then somebody said no, we have to have our own Assembly, we need our own building, bring some legitimacy and some credibility, so we, today, can enjoy this.
We’re at a point now where we’re into talking about devolution. We have evolved over time. I want to give recognition to the people, because I’ve been here and there’s Members who have been here longer than me that have the privilege of serving our people 365 days a year. I’ve been here for 10 years, but there are Members who have been here longer that really, really know the essence of what it means to be a legislator. There are good times and there’s not so good times, but there’s also past Members who were also in our shoes, past staff members, and we’ve got current Members who are also experiencing it with us, everybody.
Somebody had the idea and the fortitude to tell everybody this is what we’ve got to do, just like we’re moving through the phase of devolution.
So, I want to say congratulations on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories, especially the Sahtu; and people from the Northwest Territories, come out and celebrate what is yours. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Colleagues, before we go on to the next statement, I’d like to welcome back to the House Mr. Henry Zoe, former Member of the Assembly. Thank you.
---Applause
Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
