Mahsi, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, almost five years ago, on October 26, 1989, a point of order was raised by Mr. Pedersen, then the honourable Member for Kitikmeot West in this House.

The Assembly was in session in Norman Wells at that time. Mr. Pedersen raised a point of order because I attempted to make a Member's statement in Dogrib and no translation was available. The House had to shut down that day until a Dogrib interpreter was available.

I refer to this incident to emphasize the importance of our aboriginal languages. The Northwest Territories is unique in this country in the way we recognize and acknowledge how important aboriginal languages are.

I am told of a story of the days of Commissioner Hodgson. The story is that someone who received a letter from the Commissioner noticed that the letterhead was in English only. This person complained to the Official Languages Commissioner in Ottawa that the letterhead should be bilingual, in English and French. Mr. Hodgson's response, apparently, was that he would have French put on his letterhead after all the aboriginal languages of the Northwest Territories were put there. I do not know if this story is true, but I think every Member of this House would agree with the moral of the story.

In 1983, a resident of the Yukon challenged a speeding ticket because it was in English only and not in French, as well. This scared the federal government. They were worried that they could get in trouble with the new Constitution because French was not an official language in the two territories and the laws of those territories had not been translated into French. So they introduced bills which would force the territorial governments to make French an official language.

The Government of the Northwest Territories reacted quickly to this development. The Government Leader at that time, the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, moved to meet the concerns of the federal government, while recognizing the importance of aboriginal languages. The result was the official languages ordinance, accompanied by the first Canada/NWT languages funding agreement.

Madam Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member's statement.