Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I think this is a very important debate. I was thinking today about the debate on the task force on spousal assault when it was presented to the 10th Assembly in Fort Smith. I think some of us were there at that time. I think it was a very important moment for the Legislature and the people of the Northwest Territories because it brought that issue out, maybe for the first time, in a very visible way.

There were moving presentations, including some by Members, who publicly acknowledged their own failings. I think we should, although there is an enormous amount to do, note we have come some distance, even if it is just water wearing down the stone. We have made some progress. We are, again, confronting this issue openly and with candour and passion. That is very important. I would like to thank the presenters. I want to say that I liked the challenge from Bertha Allen and Lynn Brooks on behalf of the Status of Women to us: will we publicly voice our concerns, will we say we want to live in a non-violent society, will we confront leaders, political peers, who are not role models?

There have been remarks made at public meetings over the years -- I've attended a number -- sometimes by elders, which have been very contrary to what we're talking about today. We hear people blame shelters for marriage breakdown and the like. I think the days are over when those kinds of comments are going to be tolerated. I was pleased that, at a recent Nunavut leadership meeting, that issue was confronted and an apology was given about a statement that was not acceptable that was made about shelters. I think this consciousness is being raised and this debate today will do its part.

I want to try to get concrete here because we've got to make this real. As an Assembly, I think we should adopt the declaration that has been tabled by Mr. Kakfwi, and I commend him for that. There is a formal motion being circulated to Members, which takes into account Mr. Lewis's comments and I think we should take that action and we should do it in formal session. Perhaps, since we've focused on this issue this afternoon, we should introduce that motion tomorrow, in formal session. I hope all Members will support it.

But, we've all said this is only a step. I think what is even more important will be to take the next step and respond to Mr. Kakfwi's suggestion -- and I've heard several other Members endorse it -- that we have the courage to make legislative changes to revoke the privilege of holding public office, including those appointed to boards and agencies under the auspices of the Government of the Northwest Territories, including those elected to municipal office in the Northwest Territories, who are convicted of crimes of family violence. I think this would be an enormous statement to our people that we are serious about this.

I know, right now, of a Baffin Island community that has several members sitting on the community education council who have been convicted of sexual assault against children. What does this say to the people in that community? What does it say to the children, to the youth of that community? We're still a small enough society that everybody knows what's going on and what's been done.

So I would like to -- once the Assembly adopts the declaration -- encourage the Minister of Justice to put flesh to this declaration, and to bring forward a legislative action paper which would propose these concrete legislative changes. I feel that if our government is paying honoraria and expenses for people who are holding these positions of public trust, we have a right to demand certain standards. We already have legislation that disqualifies people from any of our boards and agencies if they are in conflict of interest, if they use the position to their personal, pecuniary advantage -- I think is the legal jargon that's used in our Conflict of Interest Act. So let's do the same thing for people who abuse the public trust by committing crimes of violence against family.

I'd like to here, publicly encourage the Minister of Justice to respond to his own challenge and present a legislative action paper. I suspect it will be unprecedented in the country. It may raise the spectre of the charter. I don't care. I think we should look at it and examine it seriously, and put -- as some Members have said -- our money where our mouth is. I think that would help make this important discussion real.

The third issue I think we have to address -- and I don't have an answer today to propose. We've had several of the excellent presenters, including Martha Flaherty, in her letter, say there has to be an accountability framework. Mrs. Allen suggested a process, a committee involving groups like hers to tackle the ongoing strategy of eliminating violence. I know the NWT Seniors' Society in the person of its president, Ms. Braden, who is here in the gallery, has plans to pursue the results of their workshop on elder abuse with a network which would respond and lead to action. I think everybody is agreeing that there needs to be a method of making this strategy real in all the activities of our government. That is something that undoubtedly the Premier, in her capacity as Minister for Status of Women, and the Minister of Justice could also pursue and report back to this Assembly on an action plan.

I know the spousal assault task force, which was only a beginning, lead to an action plan which then lead to real things happening, including the establishment of shelters. I think that's what we need on the family violence strategy, is once we do a declaration in formal session, which I hope we can all agree now should be done, then we should look at legislative change to revoke the privileges of holding public office as an example to the people of the Northwest Territories, for those convicted of offences of family violence and, thirdly, come forward with a long-term strategy to achieve the objectives of zero tolerance and give it recognition and reality in all the activities of our government.

I hope that this debate will be the beginning of those very important changes. I certainly will want to be a strong supporter of that action being taken as a priority by this Assembly. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.