Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On February 9th I asked the Premier a question on whether he forwarded on the motion to other Premiers. That motion was the one that was passed in this House regarding the missing and murdered indigenous women. Of course, the Premier says he acts on all motions passed in this House and said he would check on it. He offered to forward me all the copies of the letters. I said I don’t need all of the copies, I just need a note to say that they’ve done this. I also accepted that maybe if it had not been done at that time, to ensure it was done.
Mr. Speaker, I’ve waited a month, technically a month and a day to find out if this motion was ever sent. I am wondering what the Premier has done with that request from February 9th that goes back to the earlier motion that was passed in this Assembly to send the motion to other Premiers in Legislatures to encourage them to pass a motion of a similar type. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The letters have not gone as of yet and the planning for the Round Table on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women, the advice we received was that to introduce the concept of a motion at this stage would confuse and complicate the planning for the round table. So now that the Round Table on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women has occurred, we will be proceeding forthwith to send out the letters to all of the provincial and territorial Legislatures. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Just to be very clear, the letter will be sent out to all Legislatures and all Premiers. Will you be sending out our motion suggesting they do something similar? I just want to be clear on the record. Thank you.
That was my understanding. We will follow the direction that was outlined in the motion that was passed by this House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I understand, and some days I like to think I’m reasonable in the area of things happening.
Can the Premier explain why it’s taken this long to address this matter that was directed by the House? Was there a technical issue? I didn’t quite understand the confusion part he was referring to when he gave his first answer about different directions. If we could get a clear answer about why it took this long, thank you.
In the planning for the Round Table on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women, it was felt that an interjection of this motion to all the provinces and territories would be a complicating factor, because if we sent it out to all the provinces and territories, some of them may think it would be sufficient to just pass a motion in their Legislative Assembly rather than participate in the Round Table on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish the Premier had let us know that earlier. My question and concern is who would have authority over the House authority to provide the direction? Would it be staff who said this? Has the Premier decided, or would it be multiple… I’m trying to appreciate and understand and get to the bottom of who would have the authority to override this House’s discretion and decision to pass a motion and encourage you to forward it on to the other Legislatures. It just seems odd without letting us know. Thank you.
As I indicated, we will be sending out the motion to all the provincial and territorial Legislatures. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
