Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was a funeral service for a former member of the territorial government yesterday in Saskatoon. I refer to Dr. Audie Dyer and I am very pleased that one of his ex-students, Mr. Kakfwi, made a statement about him yesterday.

Audie Dyer came north to Yellowknife in 1959 and he taught at Sir John Franklin School. In 1968 he began the very first teacher training program for native students in a classroom at Sir John Franklin School. In 1970 the program was moved to Fort Smith to be one of the adult and vocational training programs there. In his four year connection with the program, Audie made an enormous impact on the lives on young northern leaders. He worked tirelessly and always seemed on the verge of exhaustion.

Mr. Speaker, these are the words which have been used to describe him: he was a teacher; counsellor; confidante; banker; instructor; father-confessor; friend; defender; leader; publicist; surrogate parent; and, bail bondsman. I know he belongs to the bad old colonial era which we like to dump on now and again, but I think it was appropriate in his passing that we pay tribute to this man and the work which he did and the fact that he had a tremendous impact on many of our current leaders in the Northwest Territories. It is appropriate that we pay tribute to the people who deserve it. We pass on our sympathy to his friends and family.