Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I, along with everyone else, read with amusement the accounts of the Queen's visit as it appeared in the Times of London.

Madam Speaker, I have not read such creative fiction since the guy who wrote the book on Cosmos 954, described the present area where this Assembly site is as frozen tundra that you could see from the sixth floor of the Explorer Hotel.

Madam Speaker, as a politician, I understand that the media will sometimes dwell on the negative and sensational aspect of the story or events in an attempt to impress and startle their readers. However, Madam Speaker, to dwell on the negative aspect of life in the Northwest Territories with no mention of progress that has been made and the progress that is being planned for our children and our children's children, makes light of all of the work being done by the government and the native organizations, such as the Dene Cultural Institute.

Madam Speaker, as a member of one of the various ethnic groups who, as you can see occasionally, wears colourful traditional clothing, I must state for the record, that to my knowledge and that of my colleagues in this House, and my contacts in private life, there is no way that any native organization was involved with the bomb threats made against the Queen. We are proud people, Madam Speaker, and as such have started to negotiate from a position of strength, our future role in confederation and indeed the commonwealth. We need no bombs to get our points across.

In conclusion, Madam Speaker, I would like to point out to the readers of the London Times that ours is a territory that is indeed filled with challenges and hard decisions for years to come, but we are working on it. The beauty of the land and the people can far outweigh the social problems we are presently experiencing. Come and see it for yourself. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause