Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is with great pleasure and pride that I stand here today in this House to say congratulations to all Inuit of the Northwest Territories for the successful ratification of our land claim. I want to thank our Creator and everyone who has contributed to this accomplishment, including the T.F.N., the federal and territorial government negotiators, my fellow M.L.A.s and staff of all organizations of the governments involved and all of the Inuit who voted in favour of the agreement.

To those Inuit who did not vote or who voted against the agreement I want to say that now that the majority of our people have accepted this agreement we will all work very hard to ensure that your concerns are taken into consideration in the implementation process.

The Inuit have demonstrated with this ratification what can be achieved when native people work together. We encountered many stumbling blocks along the way but because of our unity we were able to overcome all of these difficulties to reach this point.

It was obvious from the results of the vote that people put aside their regional interests and voted for an agreement which brings us together as one people. Although a major step has been taken in the political development of Inuit, we are once again at the starting point. We have to work just as hard at the implementation stage. Many more Inuit will be involved in the process. I would like to say to our young people in Nunavut, you now have a brighter future to look forward to. You can look to creating your own form of government. You have many opportunities to play a vital role in determining your destiny. You now have a strong reason for completing your education, for becoming aware of the needs and desires of your people and for wanting to be involved in making government responsible to the people of Nunavut.