Sorry, Madam Speaker, the light went out and I took that to mean that my time had run out.
About the donor cards, it is so easy to do, it is voluntary, it is easy to administer and coordinate, there are no extra costs to this government, there is no liability to this government, there is no unnecessary expense to our hospital, there is no new technology required, it only needs the endorsement of the department or this government.
The argument against putting this on the back of drivers' licences is that we don't have the ability to do transplants here. Well, we're not asking for the ability to do transplants in the Northwest Territories or anywhere in the Northwest Territories. We are only asking for the addition, on the back of drivers' licences, of information. It could probably be done with another card, but the most common place that people who are involved in accidents will be looking is the driver's licence for identification. And, if on the back of a driver's licence, there is that information, it alerts medical people straight away of what to do. They don't pursue it any further, once they find out the identity of victims. I've been told that by police: that is the simplest way of doing it. It is there.
The other thing that may be misunderstood is that it is not a compulsory thing. It is not that everybody has to do it. It is only those people who want to have it done. You have a choice, you can have the various regulations by coding on the back of drivers' licences. If you want to be a donor, you sign the back and carry it with you at all times. That is the place to do it. I certainly wish that people would understand that this isn't an imposition on anybody. It is a voluntary thing. When you go to renew your driver's licence, you can indicate your wishes, or the individual can request that be placed on the back, once they have signed and completed the document required.
Corneas can be removed here in the hospital, it has been done. They have a good transportation life. They can last from 36 to 48 hours, depending on conditions and Edmonton is only two and a half hours away. Edmonton has the capacity to do cornea transplants. It is so commonplace that it is done almost every day there. The only problem is they don't have enough organs for transplantation. There are people who have kidney problems who are waiting in hospitals on dialysis machines for proper kidneys. There are people who need marrow transplants. There is skin grafting for burn victims.
One of the toughest things to do is to see somebody who has been burned and scarred for life because they didn't have the right methods of treatment. The only thing that can treat skin burns is skin, itself, with a minimum of reaction. Most important, a lot of us travel and we travel to areas where there are facilities. And, when, God forbid, an accident does happen, at least people know that in the event of a tragedy, their wishes can be complied with, that life can go on and they can help others through a simple event such as a transplant because of the donor card they may be carrying.
Madam Speaker, we're winding down this session and there are a few things that have to happen today, so I won't take any more time. I wanted to get these points across and this is the forum where I was able to do this. I thank my colleagues for their patience while I was able to convey to them my point of view, which may be somewhat controversial. I have many times, supported the opinions and efforts of other Members who have put forward issues in order to benefit people in their ridings. I would ask only that this be thought about from a humane point of view, rather than something that is gruesome and grisly.
The fact is, life does terminate for some people rather prematurely and life can be extended for others through their generous contributions. I always like to take every opportunity to congratulate people and one of the groups that I would like to congratulate are the justices of the peace and the coroners, without whose service northern justice wouldn't quite be what it is. We have to be thankful that in each community there is a justice of the peace of aboriginal descent who know the ways of the community and is able to translate that into the administration of justice.
I recognize the fact that there are situations that may not be appealing to everybody, but I would also invite people to, rather than criticizing the justice of the peace system, put their names forward and take the training necessary to become good justices of the peace and coroners. Aboriginal coroners are sadly lacking, because it is sometimes seen to not be the aboriginal way of doing things. Yet, people die and coroners fulfil an important role. They go to a scene of an accident or death outside of a hospital and help to get the message across about what happened. They not only do that, but they are also able to counsel survivors of the family. They let them know what has happened, and that their loved ones have not died unnoticed and uncared for. To the coroners, we owe a great debt of gratitude for the fact that they do take on this sometimes unpleasant task.
And, to the justices of the peace, who do everything from first appearances in court and signing of documents -- some pretty mundane stuff, but at times, some pretty exciting stuff -- who are of great benefit to all people of the territories, I tip my hat and say, keep up the good work. If the Minister of Justice was here, I would encourage him to reinstate some of the things that used to be done by the justices of the peace and the coroners. I just learned the other day that a very important conference scheduled for the coroners was cancelled because they don't have enough money. Consequently, the training they receive is done long distance. It is done through letters, telephone calls and books. It doesn't have the same thoroughness of training sessions that used to be held here and in other major centres for coroners and justices of the peace.
There is another element, Madam Speaker, that is very important and that is the camaraderie, l'esprit de corps, that these members of our unofficial civil service have with each other. There is a time when you meet, talk and share thoughts with each other. That's important, too. That comes with the training programs and conferences that have now been cancelled. Yes, it costs money, but I think the benefit that we get from them translates into a far better service than if we save money and do it another way. For the justices of the peace, it is the same thing.
I know that there's a good program in there. We lost our justice of the peace trainer, by the way and I don't think they've replaced that person. We do need that so we can keep up this lower level of the court system. The one that's the grass-roots level of service that people demand in the territories. We have people that feel much more comfortable appearing in front of a justice of the peace than they do in territorial court or supreme court.
I say to the justices of the peace, don't be afraid to deal with every aspect that they feel comfortable with of the judiciary because you cannot make a mistake as a justice of the peace. You can err, yes, but there's always a mechanism that's going to catch this and is going to regress it. That's why we have the Territorial Court. That's why we have the court of appeal. That's why we have the different levels of appeals court. That's why we have the Supreme Court. I point to them that when you go to a law library you see the hundreds and hundreds of volumes of books on cases that have been appealed at some point in time; and, from each appeal we learn.
I think that if learned people, people who have gone off to universities and taken law and studied law for many years and have different degrees in law, can make errors themselves, we shouldn't be ashamed at all of making an error from time to time. It only tests the system and it delivers that form of justice that only justices of the peace can deliver to the people that they serve.
With that, Madam Speaker, I will say in closing that it's been a very interesting year. A lot has happened. I don't think we'll ever see the likes of this again. The city of Yellowknife has come out of a very traumatic time over the past few years; has stood firm, has stood together, and has pulled together and we only look forward to the future. With anticipation, perhaps, but not with fear. We look forward to the rise in the economy that's been predicted. Our Premier is overseas right now and is negotiating on our behalf to see if there are some things that can be done in the Northwest Territories that the people in the Republic of China would like. I was looking in the paper and I see that British Columbia is going to be selling salmon heads to the Chinese to make the special sauces that they make. I was wondering if they would ever look at char heads? That's an exotic part of the fish that maybe some people don't always use and there may be a little bit of a market there; Char tails and char fins, et cetera. What may be a product that's not of value to us can become valuable through the efforts of people who know how to process this and benefit greatly from it. If they benefit from it, we do too. Why? Because we get the money that would otherwise be wasted. I return now to my statement about the fur and what the Netherlands people are doing. They're saying scrap those fish, we don't need them. To heck with it because we're against fur so bad that we don't care what we do. Sometimes, though, if you do that, you cut your nose off to spite your face. Anyway, with that, Madam Speaker, thank you very much for this opportunity to return to the address. Thank you.