Thank you, Madam Speaker. I was very proud and happy to hear that on December 6, a young lady by the name of Yvonne Niego accomplished a feat that no other had completed to date. She was the first Inuk to graduate from the regular RCMP basic recruit training program in Regina, as all other Inuit who join our distinguished police force become special constables.

Yvonne was born in Toronto in 1971. She was raised in Baker Lake the first 13 years of her life. She then moved to Rankin Inlet for a year when her father, who was originally from Baker Lake, was transferred there. She moved, once again, with her parents to Fort Smith, where her father completed the renewable resource officer program. Yvonne moved, yet again, to Baker Lake and undertook a year of correspondence courses to do her grade ten and 11. She graduated in 1989 from the Maani Ulujuk High School, the second year of the grade 12 program in the Keewatin Region. She then went to the University of Calgary for a year.

Her interests in the RCMP started with the aboriginal constable development program, as a summer student for two months in Baker Lake. She then went on to the regular RCMP program this past summer. Her graduation on December 6, was attended by her father Joseph Niego and her grandmother on her mother's side of the family. Yvonne will be starting her new career in the town of Iqaluit where she hopes to live for the next few years.

When I asked her if there was anything she would like to pass on to other people, she said that she hopes more people will become involved in furthering their education, exactly the same sentiment this Legislative Assembly has stated.

She came to Yellowknife on Tuesday of last week to visit with her family until Friday, when she will leave for Iqaluit. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause