Some Hon. Members

Ooh!

Michael Ballantyne Yellowknife North

(Microphone turned off)

Some Hon. Members

(Microphones turned off)

---Laughter

Dennis Patterson Iqaluit

I am going to dare to ask some thoughtful questions about the Baffin fishery and even about the Pangnirtung fishery, not because I am against the jobs that have been created in Pangnirtung, but because I want to make sure we don't follow the Newfoundland model in Baffin Island. So, Madam Speaker, I hope the discussion will be reasonable and my questions can be answered openly and without undue defensiveness. Thank you.

---Applause

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Gargan.

Samuel Gargan Deh Cho

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will be making a statement on a book I read called the "Pied Piper of Hamelin." I have to return it by the end of the month, so I thought maybe I should make a statement now.

Madam Speaker, I listened, with interest, to the Minister of Renewable Resources the other day when he described the killing of thousands of muskrats in Holland. Because these rats do damage to the dykes in Holland, they are trapped and killed. The Europeans, being fine moral people, would never use the pelts or meat for anything useful. Instead, the carcasses are thrown into the ocean. Madam Speaker, the major reason Europeans are so interested in what goes on in our country when it comes to wildlife is that they have managed to kill off most of their own.

---Applause

Vast tracks of forest have been laid to waste by the poisonous emission of their factories.

---Applause

One only has to look at the difference between our own history and legends and the European legends which are aptly called "fairy tales."

---Laughter

In our Dene legends, harmony with nature and the land is stressed. In the European tradition, in fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood and the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the rats always get theirs in the end.

An Hon. Member

That is right.

Samuel Gargan Deh Cho

With this type of cultural education, it is little wonder that there is not much free wildlife in Europe. Madam Speaker, maybe we could write our own fairy tales for the north, a little politically correct one, something like the Pied Piper of Rankin.

---Laughter

We could have the honourable Member as the hero of the story, maybe something along the lines of piping all the seals out of the water onto the ice, where it would be reasonable to be harvested and the vast majority allowed to return to the waters.

Madam Speaker, this silly example I used illustrates the difference between the aboriginal and the European cultures. Madam Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to continue my statement.

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Please proceed, Mr. Gargan.

Samuel Gargan Deh Cho

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and honourable Members. Madam Speaker, this silly example I used illustrates the difference between the aboriginal and the European cultures. We look at the seal or the caribou as a resource, a source of food that has to be managed responsibly for the benefit of present and future generations. The Europeans and their collective guilt for having killed off their own wildlife have a romantic notion of what nature is. They cannot understanding our living in harmony with the land around us.

Madam Speaker, in the Pied Piper of Hamelin, there is a poem which goes as follows: "Each children has its worth, each death will be paid. A promise is kept, a promise is made or a time will come for the piper to play and charm all hope of our future away." This is the basic moral of this fairy tale. What we have to make the Europeans understand is that we, as aboriginal people, realize where our future is. We, as a government, have promised to do everything possible to ensure wildlife will exist for our future generations. Madam Speaker, I plan to write a book, if I ever get out of politics, called "Discovering Europe from an Aboriginal Perspective." Of course that means I have to go on a fact-finding trip. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Laughter

---Applause

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. Madam Premier.

Nellie Cournoyea Nunakput

Madam Speaker, I wish to return to item 2, Ministers' statements.

The Speaker Jeannie Marie-Jewell

Madam Premier is seeking unanimous consent to return to Ministers' statements. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Proceed.