Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is tomorrow. It signifies a time of the year when Indigenous children were taken from their homes and placed in residential school. The mission was to take the Indian out of the child. We must honour all these children, the residential school survivors, the children who never returned home, as well as their parents, grandparents, families and communities.
Wearing orange is to remember these children and to acknowledge the impacts on Indigenous families and communities.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all people to reflect on the painful history here in the NWT. We cannot forget the little children and the little boys who cried at night alone for their parents and grandparents. We cannot forget the parents' and the grandparents' pain who cried for their children.
Mr. Speaker, I also ask that we all take meaningful action to reconcile this painful past and work together to build a stronger territory for our children and grandchildren. We have begun to acknowledge the discriminations faced by Indigenous children but more needs to be done, especially for our Indigenous youth in the child and family services system. Today, 98 percent of children in the NWT child and family services are Indigenous children.
Mr. Speaker, we need to start to focus on real change and give Indigenous families more support, more educational opportunities, and more resources so that they can be successful. Many residential school survivors did not receive the life skills they needed and were more comfortable in institution rather than home. That is so sad. Our jails are full of too many residential school survivors who have said being in jail is easier than living in a residential school. We need to think about having appropriate support for these residents as well.
Mr. Speaker, we all want a territory where each person has fair opportunities to build a good life and contribute to their communities. I hope that your reflection on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation lead you to positive actions for every child and person in the NWT.
Mr. Speaker, the truth and reconciliation is about how we face the past and move forward. We need to do this together as a territory with the Government of the Northwest Territories, Indigenous government, nongovernment organizations and, most importantly, all the people. NWT has a population of 44,000 people. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Members' statements. Member for Kam Lake.
