Thank you, Madam Speaker. Last night, Members had the distinct pleasure of listening to Treaty 8 chiefs in our Caucus room. It was a historic occasion to have native leaders visiting with us in this place of Assembly. However, Madam Speaker, because of the difficult times we are now going through in terms of constitutional development, many problems have been posed in recent weeks because of the position of Treaty 8 chiefs not to participate in further constitutional discussion for the creation of a new Northwest Territories Act or a replacement act to deal with the requirements of the people left over when Nunavut is created in 1999.
I promised my colleagues this morning that I would not make a statement of great substance on this issue today until we've had further discussion among ourselves and also with the people we represent. But it does pose very grave problems for further constitutional debate in the west if some players have decided that they don't want to take part in the process. It seems to me that we could be heading towards the same kind of difficulty that Canada has headed in the past, when it has decided to proceed with constitutional development with the exclusion of Quebec.
For that reason, Madam Speaker, it seems to me we have to take a good look at this process to make sure that whatever steps we take over the next few months are done in the best interests of all the people in the western Arctic. Thank you, very much.