Written questions.

Item 7, returns to written questions. Address. Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Item 8, replies to Opening

Mr. Arngna'naaq's Reply

Mr. Speaker, over Christmas the North lost an important figure with the death of Armand Tagoona. Armand's final months were overshadowed by certain events with which we are all familiar. I do not wish to minimize these events, as Armand himself did not minimize them. However, today I will address another side of the man.

Armand was born in Repulse Bay in 1926. He was born a member of the Aivilik people. With his mother and father he moved south and west to Baker Lake while he was still a boy of seven years. For many years the mission, the Hudson's Bay Company and the RCMP were the only white residents of Baker Lake, and then the Department of Transport opened a station. An Inuit assistant was needed, and the department asked Armand Tagoona to work for them, offering a very good salary of two dollars per day. He become one of the richest Inuit in the area, besides being one of the most gifted in the whole settlement.

On the 26th day of April 1959, Armand Tagoona, before some 60 white people and 150 Inuit in Rankin Inlet, was ordained a deacon. As a token of their love, his white and Inuit friends in Baker Lake had sent him an ordination gift of robes and an inscribed prayer book. In his words, when asked why he wanted to work for the church, he said, 'Canon W.J.R. James, our Minister at Baker Lake, gives us a sermon four times a week during services. In the year of 1953 1 started studying the Bible at home and listening to sermons to try to understand what a believer should do. Then my believing in God got stronger and stronger. Then I had belief in God and in Jesus Christ the son of God, our Lord and Saviour.

*At that time I was working for the DOT and my future was for that. In the year of 1954 our minister visited our house. While on his visit he asked me, 'Do you think God is calling you sometimes to work for Him? Because I did not want to say yes or no, I said, 'I do not know.' Then he said, 'Watch for God's call, because God is calling some people to work for him.' Then I studied the Bible and the Word of God more and harder and prayed more. In my heart there was a saying, 'Watch for God's call, because God is calling some people to work for Him.' Then I wondered, 'Am I one of them?' This went on for over three years.

'In the year of 1957 Canon James told us in the service that God was needing more workers to help the church. I then wondered again, 'Am I one of them?' Later I let Canon James know what I felt. He wrote to Bishop Marsh, Bishop of the Arctic, about it. The answer was that he welcomed me to work for God and help the church."

"I want to say this: Why did I come to work for God in the church and give up DOT? Not because I do not like them, no. I gave up because God's call was too strong for me to say, 'No.' I was very happy to work for Him, to help the church."

In his lifetime he built three churches: one Anglican Church in Rankin Inlet; one Anglican Church in Arviat; and he took a leave of absence in 1969 and started the Arctic Christian Fellowship Church in Baker Lake, I remember when the little church in Baker Lake first started. Services were held on Sunday afternoon because it did not want to interfere with the morning and evening services of the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches. If you were late, you would not be able to enter the building because the little church was too full.

In his lifetime he wrote three hymn books, now used in the Eastern Arctic. He also wrote many, many weekly newsletters. Armand was also a gifted artist. He produced a series of drawings for his first exhibition held at the Robertson Galleries in Ottawa in October 1972. He was first encouraged to begin drawing and was assisted in writing in English by the Butlers, a couple from Pittsburgh who came to Baker Lake to help develop arts and crafts activities among the Inuit. A book was produced with 23 of his drawings and the stories behind them. The book is entitled "Shadows.' It is a series of experiences of Christianity and shamanism into the coherent whole that is the life of one man.

He turned down an award from the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada in the early 1970s. The award from ITC would have been an award from all the Inuit of Canada, thanking him for his service to bettering the lives of the Inuit. In 1988 he was again recommended and asked for his appointment as a member of the Order of Canada, but he turned that down as well. He told his son William Tagoona that he could not accept the awards, as there is only one award he wants to receive, and that is in Heaven.

In 1985 he returned to the Anglican Church as the pastor for Rankin Inlet. He and his family returned to Baker Lake in the fall of 1991.

He died on December 21, 1991, of severe hemorrhaging of the stomach, at the age of 65. Armand and his wife, Mary Tagoona, had 13 children, of which 11 survived. At the time of his death he and his wife had 45 grandchildren. When he fell ill in December, 1991, they did not have any records of him. He had not been to the health centre since the early 1960s.

He always saw the brighter side of life, which was reflected by a certain aura about him. He was an inspiration to all who met and got to know him. In Bryan Pearson's words from Nunatsiaq News of February 14, 1992: "Many knew, admired and loved him. He was a northern treasure, a rare human being, selfless, a doer, a builder, a rebel and a family man.' Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Arngna'naaq. Replies to Opening Address. Item 9, petitions.

Item 10, reports of standing and special committees. Item 11, reports of committees on the review of bills. Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to report to the committee that the standing committee on legislation has reviewed Bill 1 and Bill 17, and wishes to report that Bill 1 is now ready for committee of the whole and that Bill 17 is ready for committee of the whole, as reprinted and amended. Thank you.

Thank you. Reports of review of bills. Mr. Todd.

committees on the

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to report to the Assembly that the standing committee on finance has reviewed Bill 13 and Bill 24, and wishes to report that Bill 13 and Bill 24 are now ready for committee of the whole.

Mr. Pollard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 65(5) and have the following bills placed on the orders for committee of the whole today: Bill 1, Bill 13, Bill 17 and Bill 24. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Pursuant to Rule 66(3), and on the order of the Assembly, Bills 1, 13, 17 and 24 are ordered into committee of the whole for today.

Reports of committees on the review of bills. Mr. Kakfwi.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to return to Item 10, reports of standing and special committees. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Proceed, Mr. Kakfwi.

The motion is in order, Mr. Kakfwi. To the motion.

Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour? Opposed? The motion is carried.

--- Carried

Item 10 , reports of standing and special committees. We will return then to Item 12, tabling of documents. Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table Tabled Document 40-12(2), a letter and a couple of reports that I received from a former chaplain at Akaitcho Hall for the academic years 1989-91, Pastor Tom Gavac. In this report and letter he has some serious questions and concerns regarding the responses and accountability of Akaitcho Hall. I think it will be useful, since the Minister responsible for Education had indicated that there is going to be a full comprehensive review of that institution in May. So I would like to table these documents, and it might help him to take care of our students and our institution. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Tabling of documents. Mr. Pollard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table Tabled Document 41-12(2), Public Utilities Board of the Northwest Territories 1991 Annual Report. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Tabling of documents. Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table Tabled Document 42-12(2), Dental Services Delivery Mechanism for the Keewatin Region, which is an initiative by the Keewatin Regional Health Board and local development corporations to deliver health services in the Keewatin, in spite of the Department of Health. Thank you.

Tabling of documents. Mr. Allooloo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table Tabled Document 43-12(2), Arctic College Annual Report, 1990-91.

Tabling of documents. Mr. Gargan.