Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Congratulations on your role as Speaker, Mr. Jacobson. You’re the first Inuvialuit to be a Speaker. Also to the elected Premier, Mr. Bob McLeod, congratulations. To all the candidates who put their name forward as Ministers and Premiers.
Friends and colleagues, I stand here today to seek your support as I place my name forward as a member of our Cabinet, working through consensus to promote partnership, understanding and collaboration to best serve our people. We set that tone in our historic meeting last Friday as we met with the NWT leaders to acknowledge their leadership, their perspective, their voice, and put forth our willingness to listen and work together. Respect, listening and understanding, an open door, working together through consensus are principles that will guide my work here and in Cabinet. These principles should be both our intent and our actions.
When I was young I experienced firsthand the challenge of residential school in Inuvik. I learned how to take orders and follow rules. I struggled through the challenges of loneliness, fear, and the sense of isolation, and felt that I didn’t have a voice. I was determined to find a better way so that others would not have to suffer the way I did. That experience taught me to have inner strength. It taught me to claim my individuality. I became chief in my community of Tulita as a young man. In addition to the role of chief, I followed a career in the field of health and healing. I worked as a
facilitator for healing and as program manager. My practice ranged from individuals in treatment to government funders, program staff and to families.
I learned about working together from my elders. How to listen. How to decide on the right action to take based on my actions and on their experience and point of view together with my own thinking. Working with my elders led me to see things differently.
By working with people to build consensus I earned their trust and was given an even greater responsibility: I went on to become the chair of the Sahtu Tribal Council. I became the chief negotiator for the Sahtu Land Claim Agreement. Then I was asked to work on the Tulita Self-Government Agreement as their chief negotiator.
In 2003 I was encouraged to run for the Sahtu MLA. I am grateful to my constituents and humble for their faith in me. I’m proud to say that this is my third term in the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly.
Through all these roles I learned that to build consensus takes the same thing that it takes to build success: creating a team, keeping it focused by having a plan and clear goals, and respecting each other’s accomplishments while working together. Appreciating the different strengths and talents that people bring to the table. We are sitting here today to reflect the diversity of our great territory. Individually we are as different as our constituencies. Sometimes differences can make us go into separate corners. If we take the time to understand our difference, they can be a positive force for change. It is those same differences that make us strong, that we stand together in agreement while walking in truth. There are many paths to success, and the more we work together to reach a common goal, the more chances we have of building a self-sustaining community which educates and develops its people, giving them access to resources that can bring new opportunities never imagined before now.
Cabinet needs team players who are also leaders. Cabinet members must be people who have the flexibility necessary to see the different paths and that different paths can lead us to the same place.
My elders tell me there is always more than one solution. It is in a higher value that brings us into consensus, integrity, honesty and wisdom, and a deep desire to make life better for our children and their children. The common ground we need to get may not be easy to reach. We have big issues ahead of us, issues that affect the life of the Northwest Territories residents every day: cost of living, food, health, social issues, housing, and to name a few other larger issues that will impact our lives such as the economy, wildlife, education and
devolution. (Inaudible)…we, as government, will have to carry in meeting all those issues in a restrictive fiscal environment. Not only are the issues large, they’re complex. We have seen how the pressure to solve these big issues can create division. Divisions can shift the focus from the problem to the process. We haven’t had the time and the money to allow this to happen anymore. We need a strong plan in place now.
A strong plan needs strong Cabinet members, Cabinet members who have the experience to make wise decisions and the courage and the character to make tough decisions, cabinet members who are also flexible who will help us to see the difference not as problems but as different paths to the same solution, and we need members who will follow through and be accountable once decisions have been made. We need Cabinet members who will work from consensus with a standard of excellence as our normal way of working, because united we can focus on solving challenges and moving forward.
This Assembly will set priorities for our government and give us direction. This Assembly will keep Cabinet and the Premier accountable and make sure they are focussed on results. This Assembly will give us guidance to make changes as the plans unfold. Cabinet will have to see guidance from this Assembly and from our partners in a consensus government on new issues that come up. We already know they will.
As a Cabinet member my door will always be open. I am comfortable in building the bridge between Cabinet and our communities. As a Cabinet member I will continue to support the Northern Leaders’ Forum to ensure that communities feel connected to us. This Assembly will set the priorities for our government. This Assembly will do its job.
As a Cabinet member I have three basic commitments that will guide all the work that I do. My first commitment is to make consensus our way of doing business. My second commitment is returning to the basics of doing business. My third commitment is to work as part of a Cabinet team to complete major initiatives.
Our territory will benefit from the fibre optic line down the Mackenzie Valley. The highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk is important to the whole territory. We must work towards completing the Mackenzie Valley Highway. The Mackenzie Gas Project, we need to see this project through. The Anti-Poverty Strategy and the shelter review must guide our decisions.
Each of our constituencies are very different. Our communities have unique circumstances. Each region has a different challenge, and fundamentally
we all want the same things. We want to see our people’s needs met. We want higher quality health care and education for our children. We want to see the unemployed working and every NWT resident to have a home to call their own. We want our youth to succeed, our economy to prosper and our elders to live in comfort and dignity that they deserve. I want to be in the Cabinet that steers us reach those goals. We need to do what it takes to get those things done and we need to get to work.
I offer this Assembly my experience, commitment and willingness to do the hard work expected of a Cabinet member, and I want to make sure we stay on track and achieve the goals we’ve set for ourselves as a government. I ask for your acceptance and look forward to serving for many years in the future.
Mr. Chairman, I’d like to say thank you very much to my wife and my family, the people back in the Sahtu for electing me here. I also thank my elders and the friends who have supported me throughout the eight years. I am happy to be here and I congratulate all the MLAs for the next four years. Good luck. Thank you.