Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I would like to make a few brief points concerning the North Slave region and the results of the plebiscite held in the NWT on the question of the division boundary between the Western and Eastern Arctic.
To begin with, my region has always supported the wishes of the Inuit people and their struggle for self-determination for their own homeland. The Dogrib people, and the Dene Nation for that matter, have been, and continue to be, involved in a similar struggle for a land base and a self-governing institution,
However, having said this, the Dogrib people are not at all happy with the process used to determine the division boundary. This concern, Mr. Speaker, was made abundantly clear in the plebiscite voting results from the North Slave region. The North Slave had one of the highest turnouts in the Western Arctic and voted overwhelming against the so called Parker line. Ninety-three per cent voted against the line, the highest "no" vote in the Western Arctic.
We voted against the boundary line because of the complicated nature of the boundary line. The Parker line is not only a political boundary but also a land claim boundary. The question of the overlap between Dogrib land and the Inuit land was not resolved with the Parker line and this is the central problem. Because of the timing of the plebiscite vote, the North Slave people did not have the opportunity to settle our disputed area with the Inuit. Mahsi.