Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On Mr. Gargan's comment on the amount of violence there is in the NWT, I can only speculate because I don't believe there has been any kind of scientific study carried out on this specifically, in the NWT. I really don't have any basis to make a comment on why violence is so high here, other than the fact that within the last ten to 25 years, the aboriginal people in the NWT have undergone tremendous change which, I think, has resulted in the social problems we have today.
I can understand and appreciate Mr. Gargan's concerns on custom adoption. If he feels we shouldn't be tinkering with custom adoption, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree. I have a very strong traditional background, having been brought up in an Inuit family who believes in open adoptions, what we call custom adoptions. One of the beauties of our custom in adopting a child is that all it requires is the consent of two parents. Most of the time, not all the time, the father doesn't really have any say.
This legislation is just going to deal with the process, and I'm quite comfortable with it, as the Minister responsible for adoptions. We're in a situation where a grandparent has to lose a case over trying to adopt her grandchild. The way our situation is set up, with courts, even the custom adopted children, if they wish when they grow up, can't go back and try to look into their files if they don't happen to know who their real parents are because their files are sealed. Custom adoption would allow for open adoption, and I think it would be more relevant to our aboriginal population that the present practice is not lost.