Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I wasn't going to make a reply, but a number of things that I have been reading about in the country over the last few weeks have really concerned me. I just wanted to express some of my feelings to the House. What's happening to our country?

As we, in the Northwest Territories, attempt to deal with increasing violence and problems with our youth and social problems across the territories, I think we have to keep in mind that we're part of Canada; and something that's happening in Canada should concern us all. I really see a breakdown of the values that Canadians have been so proud of for so long. The things I'm about to say are not meant as criticism to the judges here in the territories or to the police here, to the prosecutors or to the government. I think everybody here is doing the best they can with the roles and the limitations they have to work within.

But a number of things have happened recently. I was reading here on the front page of the paper, the American concept of violence is coming north, is coming north very, very quickly; that a pro-choice doctor was shot in Vancouver. That was an unheard-of concept five years ago. Those sorts of things didn't happen in Canada.

I was reading about the feelings of Canadians, about what has happened with the Charter of Rights and how the Charter of Rights is seen by many Canadians only as a protection for people accused of serious crimes, and of criminals; and that balance in our society seems to be lacking.

I was reading, recently, of a woman who purchased pepper spray for use in protecting herself from attack and was charged for possession of a prohibited weapon when she was attacked, and charges against her attacker were stayed. So what the prosecution has said is it's legal for a woman to use pepper spray to defend herself against a vicious dog; however, it is illegal to use the same spray to defend herself against attack from a would-be rapist.

We've talked here about the Supreme Court decision on drunkenness and the use of drunkenness as a defence, and the recent case in Alberta. Members will remember the Askov case where accused persons have the right, under the Charter of Rights, for a trial within a reasonable period of time. People will recall that as a result of this Supreme Court decision in Askov, thousands and thousands of cases were thrown out of court for what was termed unreasonable pretrial delay. So while the right of the accused to a trial within a reasonable period of time is of significant importance, I can't help but feel that society's right to ensure that criminals are prosecuted was ignored in this decision.

Madam Speaker, the former government had promised to bring in anti-stalking laws. People have heard about these laws in the United States. There have been many cases of women who had been stalked by former boyfriends, by former husbands, have reported it to the police, there have been restraint orders established by courts, and a still alarming number of women have been murdered. And, under our system, you can't do anything about it. The police have to tell a person who is being stalked time and time again, until somebody actually does something to you there's nothing we can do. I understand that our present government, because of the Charter of Rights, is not going to proceed with anti-stalking laws.

The case of sexual predators...It is a fact that we're now able, in many cases to reasonably predict that some individuals, once they are out of jail, will sexually attack kids again. We have unbelievable cases where parole reports even say that that individual could kill if they were released; and did kill. So, again, the Charter of Rights says that we can't keep somebody in prison longer than their sentence, even if we know, with reasonable certainty, that if we let them out, an innocent victim will be badly hurt. Again, I understand that there's not a lot being done about this because of the Charter of Rights.

I was reading in the Globe and Mail that they're having a major symposium in Toronto about international crime. And I'll quote, Madam Speaker, "Some of the top crime fighters in the world are at the symposium." They say there are at least 10 organized crime syndicates, including the so-called Russian mafia, two Italian mafia, two Columbian drug cartels, Chinese triads and Japanese gangsters operating in Canada, drawn by its generous immigration policies, lack of currency regulation and lenient judicial system.