Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it has been a remarkable experience to be here and to be a part of this government. In the past, I was always so critical of the government and their process but respectfully I did work for the GNWT. I worked for them for 20 years. And I gained a lot of experience at that level. I worked for several departments. I could not help but to constantly be critical and constantly ask questions about their programming and why do we work at a snail mail pace. But I tried painfully to be a part of those changes and understand their process. I wanted to be in this position. I thought of this position as when I was a student. I was 14. I wanted to be a politician. So I worked frontline. Always found this challenging working for the GNWT because I always had questions. I wanted them to be answered today. But then I soon realized that I come from a different generation. I'm very familiar with the history of the territory. And I witnessed evolving of this government from the beginning, watching the days and listening to COPE, the Committee of Original Peoples Entitlement, and the Indian Brotherhood, and also including the creation of Dene Nation and the original intent at that time was to enhance treaty rights and work side by side with the territorial and federal government, and finally the creation of the GNWT.
So, Mr. Speaker, today I sit here a part of history. Thank you to my riding, the pillar, the region of rich, strong, political history with innovative solutions. And with their strong political influence and partnership in the Northwest Territories, I want to start to speak about the beginning and the days of John T'sellie, being the first MLA representing the Sahtu. With his passion to work in respect of Indigenous rights and treaties, we then evolved into the days of Stephen Kakfwi, who served as Minister and former Premier, who led the territory towards the economy and fueled our territory to recognize our treaty rights but also leading into natural resources and into the opportunities to discover the interest into diamond mines, oil and gas, but most remarkable, to lead the influence to settle land claim agreements throughout the Northwest Territories. That's when we had money and flexible funding. And then I recognized the efforts of former MLA for the Sahtu Norman Yakeleya who, in his days, witnessed the completion of the Sahtu Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement. And then we move on to Danny McNeely for his influence for the Mackenzie Valley Highway.
But in my time, I reflected on two ladies who have strong influenced my career. The former MP Ethel BlondinAndrew, secretary for state, children and youth. She became the first Indigenous woman from the Northwest Territories to represent the North and also to speak her Indigenous language in the House of Commons. And second is former female chief for the Inuvik Native Band that represented us throughout the Northwest Territories, respectfully Cece McCauley.
With all this rich history, I'm sitting here today as the first Indigenous woman to represent the Sahtu region as a Member of the 19th Legislative Assembly. Mr. Speaker, that path has been paved for me and for future leaders to walk in these footsteps and continue the legacy. Our rights, our time to work side by side.
I want to acknowledge my colleagues here in the House. I've learned so much from your leadership, your style, your skills, your debates. Together we have led the territory through the most challenging of its time and right to the very end, we're still talking about the fires and the recovery right up until the very last day. We are still working together to find solutions for the better of the Northwest Territories. And just to reflect and a reminder, the pandemic, the floods, the fires, the extreme low water levels, brought us all to have several debates and hours of sitting in the House to make the best decisions for the Northwest Territories. Of course, we did not agree with everything. We all wanted our say. We all got our say. Respectfully, in time, but sometimes more time than required, we all got the opportunity to speak.
I want to also thank from the bottom of my heart in trusting me and voting me to be elected as Minister to sit on Cabinet. It has been a remarkable experience. It has been something that I didn't expect. When I got voted in as MLA and we sat and we were trying to collaborate and trying to think of how is this Cabinet going to be structured, it is it's a complete honour to be sitting here as a Cabinet Minister, an Indigenous woman coming from a smaller community. We're having these discussions. I've lived them. I've been there. The conversations are pretty much about a number of us, and I'm here to represent them. Thank you to the Premier for assigning me to the responsibility of Housing, Workers' Safety and Compensation, Public Utilities Board, and Homelessness. And thank you to my Cabinet colleagues for your support and countless conversations of encouragement. I remember when I first got elected, I chose my office to be in the middle of the lawyer and the engineer. At that time, I was fascinated by their accomplishments, but then soon realized the unique and several and so many skills in this House. I knew I was going to be a part of a remarkable team and debates were going to be extraordinary. We all wanted what was best for the North. We are all passionate. We all have history here. And we all care. So today I want to acknowledge the work in each of our portfolios. And for myself, I carry, and I want to begin with housing. The historic changes we did make. The first I'm most proud of is the repaired relationships with Indigenous governments, the signed agreements, trusting our partnership and respectfully including the departments and the debates to address housing in their communities. Also, working relationships with the federal governments have improved. Together we've developed a unique approach identifying the realities of the North. With a massive $600 million in the North, 100 units, new builds, 50 new homeowners, employment in smaller communities, and a huge work that is completed by the federal government, federal applications, and the engagements.
I want to thank my colleagues on the other side, my Cabinet colleagues. We've done this together. At this time, I want to remember former president Tom Williams and former Minister of Housing Alfred Moses. I hope I continued your legacy, your commitment, and your passion for the people of the Northwest Territories. Throughout this government, it was most difficult to say my last respects and knowing I would lead this portfolio without you. I hope I did you both well. And I gave it all that I had. I tried my very best. And mahsi to both of you for your time.
To the Public Utilities Board, for all your support and your time, you've made me feel confident in the position and provided your expert advice and your knowledge. I greatly appreciate it.
To the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission, I want to thank you for the extreme knowledge and support on this file and the briefings were excellent. But, once again, thank you for handling files in such respect and passion to assist the people of the North. But most respectfully, I did experience a death in the Northwest Territories that was very tragic to my family, and I carried this portfolio and I had to show up every day to work and, respectfully, my team did not share that information with me. Thank you so much.
Homelessness, as we work towards, there are many avenues to this file we do carry. I want to thanks Housing NWT and the employees that administer this file. Your work does not go unnoticed. Thank you for coming up with unique solutions and developing the respectful partnerships.
With all this work, I don't do this alone. I had the experts. Ms. Heather Nekako, thank you for being my pillar, my strength. When times got so challenging, I felt so defeated. Your perspectives, your knowledge helped me to get through those difficult times. Thank you. Jean Yuris, thank you for your time and keeping my organized. Your work ethic is so impressive. You kept me alive. Thank you to Larissa Stewart for working with me. Until the end it's been heartfelt with all that it takes to support this office and to work together to keep each other focused. You kept the determination, at times it was so frustrating, but we did it. Thank you for keeping me on time and thank you for preparing me. And Kevin, it's been a great experience to be working with you with so much knowledge and skills to work with the people, working directly with the MLAs. You've built those relationships in such a short time, and I respect that. It's what's made a huge difference for us in this office and in the portfolio. Your friendship and expertise is very much appreciated.
And now I want to thank the people of the Sahtu who voted me to be here to represent you. I want to thank the Sahtu leadership who provided guidance and endless support. I don't have any favourites in the Sahtu, but I just wanted to acknowledge Ekwahtide Danny Gaudet and president Erutse. For when I first got elected, he said you know you're going to be the first female that's going to be sitting at this table, you got to be tough, you got to be strong, and there's no going in the corner and crying and getting emotional. You got to show up, get this work done. And one of the strongest statements that he had made is don't complain if you don't have a solution. Move on.
I also want to thank my CA Natasha Takazo who has been here and with me side by side and who has supported me extremely throughout the portfolio. The thing that I admire about her the most is that had spoken Indigenous language so our communication to the Sahtu was excellent. We were able to reach out to everybody during my term.
And I also want to say thank you to my daughter Kayla. She has taken the responsibility of her sister. She does have Mya with her in school, which gives me the opportunity to be here to serve my four years, to be focused, to be rested, and for me to fulfill my own passion, and I'm able to do this clearly. I also want to thank my supports, Verna, Lucy Ann Antoine, and Denise Voudrach. Thank you for answering my calls when things got so hectic and I wanted to find a solution yesterday and I need to get this done tomorrow. Thank you. And to my nephew Easton Dane, Jonah, Audrena, and I also want to just acknowledge Lexie who told me, Auntie, you work too much, you're never here. So she's going to bring her bag of clothes. She's going to set up a room in my house so when she gets there, she doesn't have to transport her clothes back and forth. And so heartfelt that she's waiting for me today. And our kids and our families sure take a backseat when we uphold these positions. But it's with the passion that we do have in our heart. It's what we want best for the Northwest Territories. We all come with unique perspectives, and we also come with different set of skills. When I got this position, I wanted to be I wanted to inspire the youth. I wanted to inspire the Indigenous people, kids, people who want to make a career change. I grew up as a foster child in the Northwest Territories, and I was I was thought of that I would never be successful, that I could never be educated. So I know what it's like to be sitting in those homeless, homes. I know what it's like to be sitting on the streets and people don't give you the time or day. But in this position, I want just that simple outreach, especially as a leader, just to be telling those young people even though you're struggling with addiction, tomorrow's a new day. You get up, and you try a little bit harder. You learn from today. You just keep on ongoing. Life is not meant to be lived easy. You have to have challenges because you've got to grow. You got to become the person you need to become. And the most the message that I have out there is that we need you. We need our young people to work with their addiction. We need to help them. We need to understand them because they need to fill our seats. A lot of us are retiring. Now there is five of us that are leaving from this table. I don't know what the North is going to look like but I hope I inspired Indigenous youth or the person at home that just wants to have a career change that has been in a position for 20 years and that wants to leave. Live your dream. It's possible. And I hope I've served you well. Thank you so much to the other side for the amount of advocation you've done for me and I mean, for the portfolio. You've given us a lot of money to work with. Not extremely, but it was enough. And we were able to get funding from the federal government. That was all from the push from the other side. Thank you so much. And there's nothing that has ever been taken to heart. Anything that has coming forward, I was looking for a solution, what is it that I need to bring back. If I can't get houses on the ground, then how can I get houses on the ground and the key was Indigenous governments. I needed to improve my relationships. And I needed Ottawa to understand and recognize those federal agreements do mean something. There is an obligation there to meet. Thank you all so much. Mahsi. And I wish everybody well in the election coming up. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
