Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I had not really thought of anything to say, but just hearing the comments that are being made, and because I am affected, as a representative of people who are close to the boundary line, and realizing the history that Mr. Lewis has just given us, that there is general support for division, Whether the boundary is here or there is a question that will affect the native people more than it will affect any other people. And again, because this is a political boundary line, I had tried to say in the discussions we had a couple of weeks ago that the only reason why there is a boundary being created is because governments that do exist live by boundaries. Aboriginal people have never really lived by boundaries before, and now they are being forced to decide on a boundary line which they cannot agree on. Because it is a boundary line that the government has to live by.
I do not know what the solution would be to this, because we are in general agreement that there should be division of the Territories. Maybe there could be a sub-agreement the aboriginal people could live by, indicating to each other that this boundary is a boundary set by the government but that it is not necessarily a boundary that we, as aboriginal people, will live by. Whether that is a solution, I do not know. Because whether we divide or not and use this boundary or another boundary, it is still a boundary that is set by the federal government and is followed by political groups. But I believe for native people, I do not think they have to live by a boundary. They could live traditionally with their inherent right to live as they have lived before, within a public government system, with their own agreement.
There are various comments being made on how Nunavut Members are doing their constituency work in regard to the plebiscite. I think it was an agreement because we were able to work together on what we would be doing as far as our constituents are concerned. Basically, for me it is just an information process. My stance on this will be to inform the people that basically the plebiscite is on the boundary, and whether you vote "Yes" or "No" to that is entirely up to you. How Members, as Ernie just stated, will be affected by the boundary and on which side they will be going on -- I think we could say that you are only going to be as strong or as good as the people who are elected.
It was also stated that we still have a long way to go. I think the people in the East are beginning to realize that we do have a long way to go, but what we want to do is to be able to decide which direction we in the East are going to take without having to think about the West. The West can decide on the direction they would like to go, without the interference of the people from the East.
I do not know how we could solve the problem of the boundary. I think the way around that is for the aboriginal groups who live close to the boundary line to agree to say that they will not live by the boundary line, that they will live their traditional lives the way they always have; and the line that has been created is merely a line which the two governments of the East and the West will live by. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.