Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am honoured to be nominated to run for Cabinet. I am also pleased that my constituency, Mackenzie Delta, have given me the privilege to represent them in the House. I would like to thank my nominator, Tommy, from Baffin Central.
I would like to say that land claims has always been a priority for me with regard to my career. It has brought me to where I am today. I have been involved in the Gwich'in land claim negotiation process and then the Sahtuprocess.
There are a lot of issues out there that this House and all the people in the North, in general, have to take seriously. Without the cooperation with regard to the aboriginal, non-aboriginal, the government and the aboriginal organizations working together, I believe it may affect our ability to accomplish the final goal of division. We have to be able to work hand in hand and understand each other's issues, especially with regard to the groups that are presently under negotiations; Treaty 8 and Treaty 11 negotiations, and also the Deh Cho position. We have the Mackenzie Delta Gwich'in Tribal Council presently in negotiations with the federal government regarding self- government
The other issue that people have noted is with regard to the northern accord process. I was one of the negotiators representing the Gwich'in Tribal Council in those negotiations. We were close, but there were some fundamental issues that were unresolved. I believe in order for us to deal with the deficit situation we are in, we have to find a way to resolve our differences whether they are political or national. We have to allow the aboriginal groups to address the issue and bring it forward with regard to how we can somehow resolve that.
As a negotiator, I have been able to work with all parties; non- aboriginal, aboriginal, the different culture groups, the Gwich'in, Sahtu, Slavey and Dogrib. I feel it is critical in the time period we are in to continue with the process. We also have the question about the deficit. We have to make some strong decisions, but also look at it in the context of the economy.
We cannot continue to have the have and the have-not regions in the North. Every region should have an opportunity to have some sort of an economic base within the regions, regardless of whether it is oil, gas, minerals, renewable resources or
non-renewable resources. We have to look at all the region as a specific sector and not concentrate on the have and have- not region.
From my region, the Mackenzie Delta, we have seen the boom- bust scenario. We have had 20 years of good oil and gas development where there was a lot of activity. In the last 10 years, we have seen Aklavik, McPherson, Arctic Red River and lnuvik come to a point of seeing some major social problems with regard to unemployment, welfare and also the alcohol and drug problems that are associated with it. The justice systems have to change to meet the needs and helps individuals as individuals and not look at them as statistics. We have to help people deal with their alcohol problems, drug problems and the family problems that come along with that. ·
Presently, we have established 'the Tl'oodih Healing Camp, which is part and parcel of the Gwich'in land claim agreement. They have made a commitment to look at the question of healing and how that can better the lives of the people they represent. Without having healthy people within the communities, you aren't going to have healthy communities.
We have to deal with the problems once and for all and put the resources where they are needed.
I have been involved in the oil and gas field. I worked in the Beaufort for three and a half years and two and a half years in Norman Wells. I know what it is like for the scenario of having opportunities and then losing them. However, for those regions and communities, especially the larger centres that have a lot of opportunities with regard to government structure and the spin-offs that comes from that, we have to start working with regard to the smaller communities and give them the opportunities.
From the presentation last week with regard to where the resources are being spent and where the training dollars are being used, in my view a lot of those resources were used in the larger centres and from the statistics of what we see coming out, it is scary. We have to be fair to the smaller communities and give them the opportunities, so they aren't stuck in a situation where they are stuck without the opportunities that they should also have and not waste resources on welfare and social assistance. Give them the opportunities to better themselves.
There are some major happenings in the North, especially in the aboriginal communities with regard to the trapping issue. That was one of our biggest economies. Without that, they do not have the opportunity that they had in the past. They don't have the opportunities and jobs. The oil industry doesn't seem to be going anywhere. We have to look at all sectors, whether it is forestry, oil and gas, as well as minerals and spread the wealth around.
If I am elected, that is my goal. I will look at all communities, in light of the size of the communities and the geographical areas that they are in. We have many problems in the East and a lot of problems in the West. Whether it is Aklavik, Rankin Inlet or Baker Lake, we all have the same social problems. We have to deal with them. We also have to look at the costs of not doing anything about it. We have to do something with regard to that issue.
With that, I would like to thank my nominator. Thank you very much.
---Applause