Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, on the morning of November 12 I was told by a bureaucrat of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs that while we

met, the mayor, council and town senior administrators were being dismissed by an administrator who had been appointed by Mr. Allooloo and sent to my constituency to do that deed. Mr. Allooloo had not consulted me or informed me in any way about this drastic action. Even though, Mr. Speaker, I had been requesting information from his office, his staff and other Ministers of the Cabinet about developments with the town for weeks.

Mr. Speaker, the manner in which this was handled and the absence of process consulting in a consensual manner with the MLA -- the elected representative of that constituency -- in this House, was completely unacceptable to me. I suspect it's completely unacceptable to other Members, as well.

I have, to this day, Mr. Speaker, still not received an adequate explanation of why I was not given the courtesy of being consulted or even informed as the elected representative of the community of Iqaluit, before such an important decision was taken. Or, indeed, why Mr. Allooloo seemed to have disappeared around that time. So much for taking advantage of the wisdom of MLAs and their superior knowledge of the communities. So much for Cabinet Ministers working with and being accountable to MLAs and their communities. So much for consensus government, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Patterson. I've just had a request from CBC, TVNC is on a delayed feed. CBC is trying to get today's footage for media national broadcast tonight. They would like to come into the gallery for ten minutes to get full shots. I will allow them in the gallery unless there are any objections. So, I am going to ask, is there any objection by any Member to have a CBC television crew come in the Assembly for ten minutes?

Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, if you could inform them that they're welcome to come in...I'm sorry, in the Chamber itself. They want to get shots direct instead of from the top. I said the gallery, but it's the Chamber itself.

Agreed.

---Agreed

Okay, please inform them, Mr. Clerk. Item 3, Members' statements. Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The opening of our Legislature was a significant event, particularly the northern talent event. What was more important was the commitment not to serve any alcohol during the events as we all know this week is national addiction awareness week. I am happy to advise my constituents that alcohol was never at any time considered to be served during these events.

Mr. Speaker, in my riding a number of events are taking place this week which started last Sunday with an addiction awareness presentation by Dave Poitras and it was sponsored by Thebacha Campus. The opening ceremonies took place on Sunday evening with our Mayor, Dennis Bevington; our Metis Nation President, George Kurszewski; Peter Paulette, representing the Fort Smith Native Band; and, David Poitras, our program director for the alcohol and drug program. The opening prayer was given by Amie Tatson, who is one of the individuals successful in maintaining sobriety over the past few years.

On Monday, November 15, there was an open house at Uncle Gabe's Friendship Centre hosted by the alcohol and drug counsellor, Una Simon and staff of the friendship centre.

On Tuesday, there were posters displayed at JBT Elementary School throughout the week.

Yesterday, there was stew and bannock at lunch hour prepared by Valerie MacKay, the victims' assistance program worker, and the helpers at the friendship centre.

Today, once again, there will be displays at the Northern stores which are sponsored by the Al-Anon group.

Tomorrow, the walk for sobriety will start at JBT Elementary School at 3:00 pm, which is sponsored by JBT Elementary School children and teachers. This event is also assisted by the town of Fort Smith and the RCMP.

Tomorrow night there will also be a teen dance hosted by the Teen Warriors at the Uncle Gabe's Friendship Centre, and on Saturday, a sliding party.

These events take time to organize and I would like to encourage my constituents to participate in as many as they can, particularly the walk for sobriety, tomorrow.

Mr. Speaker, these alcohol and drug workers work long and tireless hours to serve our constituents. During this session I will be advocating on their behalf to look at increasing the pay for these individuals who are so committed to assisting people to attain sobriety in our respective communities. I'd like to extend my congratulations to the Fort Smith alcohol and drug program and staff, and to the community who are working together to make this week's national addiction awareness week a success.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Marie-Jewell. Mr. Gargan.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak, yet again, on the issue of the unconstitutionality of our legislation which prohibits inmates from voting. Some Members of this Assembly may recall that I raised this issue during the 11th Assembly. As well, I have made several statements on this issue during the 12th Assembly.

For those Members unfamiliar with the issue, I will briefly outline the background of this issue. Section 28(3) of our Elections Act provides that a person "undergoing punishment as an inmate in a prison for the commission of an offence" shall not be entitled to vote. This conflicts sharply with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section 3, which provides that, "every citizen of Canada has a right to vote in an election of Members of the House of Commons or of a Legislative Assembly, and to be qualified for membership therein."

Mr. Speaker, many provinces across Canada, and the federal government have electoral provisions similar to ours which prohibit inmates from voting. In the 1990s, several court challenges to these provisions were launched. Some were successful, others -- for reasons of timing and pending elections -- were not.

As a result of the uncertainty on this issue -- and my concern that our legislation in this regard may be unconstitutional -- I moved a motion on July 3, 1991, asking that our government refer this issue to the courts by a ruling under the Legal Questions Act, as to where our Elections Act was constitutional.

A territorial election was impending and I was concerned that our government might be acting in an unconstitutional fashion by refusing to allow inmates to vote. I was further concerned that an inmate could possibly stall the election by bringing in a court challenge to our legislation on the eve of the election.

Mr. Speaker, I'm sad to say that this motion was defeated. Many Members spoke against this motion because they felt it meant that prisoners...

Mr. Gargan, your time has elapsed. Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to get unanimous consent to continue my statement.

The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Please proceed, Mr. Gargan.

Many Members spoke against the motion because they felt that it meant that prisoners would have the right to be MLAs. Other Members, such as the honourable Dennis Patterson, said that the issue on whether prisoners in jail should vote in the territorial election should be a decision made by people elected in this Assembly. It was said that we were abdicating our responsibility by referring this matter to the courts.

Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the government did not choose to have a recent debate in the House on the issue, nor have they presented amendments to the House on the Election Act. The issue was simply swept under the carpet as not being an appropriate item on this House's agenda. Nor, Mr. Speaker, did the media recognize this as an important constitutional issue. Rather, I was mocked and ridiculed in the media for raising a very important issue of the fundamental and democratic rights of all Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court of Canada has now ruled on this issue. In one ruling, on an almost identical provision in our Elections Act of May 1993, the Supreme Court said that these provisions preventing inmates from voting were clearly unconstitutional. I understand that many decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada are often long and complicated because the questions raised are so complex. This is not the case, Mr. Speaker. The judgment of the Supreme Court on this issue was unprecedented in its brevity -- it was short and to the point -- an absolute prohibition on voting is simply unconstitutional.

I am concerned that this House has made a mockery of this issue, which is such a clear violation of all persons' constitutional rights. I am also concerned that the media made light of this very important matter. Mr. Speaker, I have always been known as a fighter for the underdog, and I will continue to fight for issues I believe important and worthy of protection, regardless of prevailing public winds. Mr. Speaker, I will be making further statements on the issue of justice in the days to come. Mahsi cho.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Gargan. Item 2, Members' statements. Mr. Whitford.

Thank you, Mr. Whitford. Item 2, Members' statements. Mr. Pudlat.

Thank you, Mr. Pudlat. Item 2, Members' statements. Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (Translation) I am going to speak in my own language. This is the very first time I am speaking to you in this new building. I want to speak to the opening of this new building that occurred yesterday. There were a lot of people that participated in the opening of the new building. They included the chiefs, elders, mayors, the president of the Metis Association, and a lot of officials from the municipalities. There were also many people from all across Canada, including Speakers from the provinces.

The Speaker for the federal government was here, the new Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chretien and his wife, as well as the Minister of Indian Affairs. They were all here to participate in the opening of the new Legislative Assembly. I would like to thank them for that. They said it was expensive to build this new facility. The media have talked about it. I imagine it was expensive, but past governments had to rent rooms and meeting places from such places as the Yellowknife Inn. I imagine that this building will pay for itself in the future. This is a facility that represents all the people in the Northwest Territories.

As MLAs, we are representing them and we are working on behalf of them. This building represents all of them. When we think of the future, every time they have meetings here, we will be working for the betterment of communities.

When we are representing the people, every time we have meetings, we set a certain amount of time. When we meet in this Legislative Assembly, we are working on behalf of all the people in the Northwest Territories, so we have to work for the betterment of the people when we are here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Item 3, Members' statements. That concludes Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, oral questions. Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Government Leader. I'd like to ask the Government Leader, what is the overall policy in terms of consulting with MLAs and advising them of major changes or initiatives which are particularly affecting their constituencies? Thank you.

Madam Premier.

Mr. Speaker, the involvement of MLAs in planning, the involvement of MLAs in dealing with constituency matters has always been a priority of the Cabinet Ministers, to consult and provide information on events, activities and situations that we are dealing with in the constituencies. That is our overall policy here as Cabinet Ministers. We try, on every occasion, to do that. I believe that on a couple of occasions, for one reason or another, Members were not consulted on some initiatives. But overall, we try to make it a priority to deal with the Members with regard to their constituency matters. Thank you.

Item 5, Oral questions. Supplementary, Mrs. Marie-Jewell.