Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's been a lot of work done to date in regards to dealing with Aboriginal people in Canada, and we have the Royal Commission Report, we have the Truth and Reconciliation Report. There's a lot of recommendations that were brought forward and recommendations that talks about reconciliation and public apology. And right now my questions are to the Honourable Premier and as follow up to the unresolved matter of the federal Indian Day Schools that I raised in March of 2023 here in the House.
Mr. Speaker, will the Premier acknowledge that abuse continued to happen after the federal day school program was transferred to the GNWT on April 1st, 1969? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. Madam Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't acknowledge that because I haven't - this is the first I've gotten that question with no head's up so I don't know the experiences of students after the GNWT. So what I'd like to propose is that the Member perhaps sit down with myself, and preferably the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, maybe the three of us, to discuss the issues and see what the solutions might be. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, I look forward to sitting down and having a good discussion on this because, you know, you already know that the Prime Minister of Canada already apologized, and we also had the Pope also apologize, for what happened at the Indian Day School here in Canada. And so we need to talk about that and we need to look at a process, but at the same time if we could have that discussion and agree on doing a public apology. You know, this is a good time to do it because we have Aboriginal Day coming up on June 21st. We have all the assemblies happening already throughout the summer. And I think we should maybe really take a look at that.
So anyways, I think maybe my question is to my other - sorry, the Premier is just exactly what I just said, is that maybe somebody could work together and try and look on those dates. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I can't give a commitment to offer any kind of an apology or set a deadline when I'm not aware of the issues concerning. So, again, I'd go back to my first offer to have a meeting with the Minister of education and myself and the Member to discuss what the concerns are and move forward from there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm surprised that, you know, it's 1969, it's only, like, 40 some odd or 45 years ago that nobody in the GNWT system, or in this House, has ever raised this issue. It's an issue that's outstanding that needs to be addressed. And it just boggles my mind that, you know, here I am talking about it today and it never showed up on your radars as the Premier here in the Northwest Territories. But regardless, you know, the transfer happened on April 1st, 1969, to the territorial government, and I'm also probably one of the students that were strapped, along with many of our colleagues around the table here. So that issue we need to talk about. And I'm not sure maybe how we want to approach on this. Sitting down maybe one thing but I need to get action. Whether we have a committee or have a committee of Aboriginal groups here, of leaders in the Northwest Territories to talk about it; we got to do something. And it's outstanding. So I just want to see if I get a commitment from the Premier on maybe - sitting down is one thing but maybe strike a committee, because this is a very important issue because all the issues that we've been talking about around the table here today speaks to the health department etcetera.
But the thing is that we don't have enough money, whether it be for housing or health and social, to deal with these issues. So we need to look at a new approach to work with the Government of Canada to find monies to address this. And it's a big problem but I got to figure a way to try and look at this issue so maybe the Premier could maybe shed light on that. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Because I don't have the background on this, and I haven't heard it in my previous almost eight years of being in this House, it could have been raised before, but I'd like to take notice on this question, Mr. Speaker, so that we can get the information necessary. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Premier. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
