Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today I rise to congratulate Chief Darrell Beaulieu of Ndilo, who was re-elected as chief. Chief Beaulieu is a very articulate and traditional leader of Treaty 8 Dene. At the same time, he is a very pragmatic and innovative chief in his own community of Ndilo.

I have had the pleasure of working closely with Chief Beaulieu for the last four years as chief, and for some years before that as councillor, also with Chief Sangris from Dettah and the Yellowknives Dene Band. The two chiefs and band deserve tremendous credit for the improvements in Ndilo and Dettah over the last decade. If one looks at those communities now and looked at them 10 years ago, you would see a tremendous improvement. The band deserves most of the credit for that.

As Members recognize, the band has been in an unfortunate situation of not being able to say exactly who is responsible. For services, the municipality has had problems because of the taxation regime. The federal government should be responsible, but they never had any money. Very innovative leadership on behalf of the Yellowknives Dene Band, working with the GNWT over the last decade, has allowed the people of Ndilo and Dettah to have a much better quality of life.

I wish the chief well and I am sure the chief will provide very strong and imaginative leadership for his people for many years to come. Thank you.

---Applause