Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, heaven knows what better process we will get in the future, but for the time being, perhaps a minority of the people we talked to during the consultation were in support of Bill 2. It is one step ahead of the government, recognizing custom adoption. To me, that is one step forward. If there is another mechanism where we will make custom adoption...I think the fact that the government is finally going to recognize custom adoption in the territories is something to be thankful for, Mr. Chairman.

I don't believe Bill 2 is going to increase the pregnancy in young people in this jurisdiction. Young girls getting pregnant is part of nature. Ever since man and woman were created, we have had unmarried women getting pregnant. It is a fact of life, Mr. Chairman. I don't believe the Aboriginal Custom Adoption Recognition Act is going to see any increase in children being abused. Children have always been abused, in the past. It is unfortunate. I think we, the politicians in this jurisdiction, are the ones who can try to address the unfortunate act of when kids are being abused. We can address that. We may not be able to eliminate young children being abused by their parents or adoptive parents.

But I agree with Mr. Gargan to a degree. This is not going to address the need to recognize fully the custom adoption that has always been with the native people, Inuit and Dene. I also recognize that Bill 2 is going to make things easier for potential parents and for natural parents, especially when many times natural parents don't know where their children are when they are adopted, in some cases. In this case, Mr. Chairman, in the birth registration form, it will state where the natural parents were and where the adoptive parents are. It will make it that much easier, some time in the future, when the natural parents

want to see their children who have been adopted, Mr. Chairman.

We have heard many a case where people were frustrated, parents and parents to be, when their adopted children are not even named after the adoptive parents. I know many a case where the adoptive parents look after the adopted children as their own. In fact, they were frustrated because they didn't have their own name as being part of that family, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, for the time being, I don't see any other mechanism to address the need of the native people at this point in time. I think this is a good beginning. Once we have the Nunavut government, we will find another process to address the real needs of the people of Nunavut. For the time being, we are moving one step forward. In that regard, Mr. Chairman, I welcome Bill 2. Thank you.