Mr. Chairman, the tradition of adopting here in the north, amongst Inuit and Dene, as the Member says the practice is labelled. It is customary. It is part of our tradition for family and friends to adopt children, sometimes they are grandchildren, sometimes they are cousins and sometimes they are not even related, but that is our custom.

The Family Law Review Report recommends very emphatically, that we develop no legislation, there would be nothing in the law that would say how custom adoption fits, or does not fit, into our present justice system.

What I understand is that Social Services and the courts, the Department of Justice, and vital statistics, have really been besieged by individual requests from parents, and relatives of adopted children, for instance, to change names, and to look for passports. In trying to do paperwork, there really was no system set up to deal with custom adoption. Custom adoption moved into this, because of the need for paperwork. The Family Law Review seems to suggest, and I cannot really speak about it in detail, because it is not tabled yet, but it recommended, I think you could say, that we stay out of it. All we do is try to find a way in which to make it simple.

If people want to change a name, if they want to get birth certificates, social insurance numbers for children, or passports, as a government, we should make a commitment. I think I can make the commitment now, that we will work towards making it simple for people in the communities to get through these bureaucratic wrangles, that so many get hung up on these days.

I do not think that the government ever intended to start legislating, and developing laws, for custom adoption.