(Translation) Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I will be saying this in my own language. On February 14th, the federal Minister of Justice tabled new legislation for controlling firearms. If it is passed by Parliament in Ottawa, it will change the law and require everyone in Canada to register their firearms. It will bring very harsh penalties into effect for everyone who is found guilty of violating the new regulations.

These new regulations may have been designed to meet the needs of people in southern Canada, but they will have a very negative effect on traditional lifestyles in the north. If we continue to use our firearms the way we do now, we will be breaking the law and will be treated as criminals. This is not right. The federal Minister of Justice, the Honourable Allan Rock, came to the Northwest Territories last year and many people told him that firearms are important to us. He said he would listen and would consider the needs of the aboriginal people. Now it is clear that he did not.

Our government has been trying hard to oppose this new legislation and I think the Honourable Stephen Kakfwi has been doing a good job in taking our message forward. I also think that our federal Members of Parliament, the Honourable Ethel Blondin-Andrews and the Honourable Jack Anawak, have been working hard to deal with this issue but right now it seems that the federal government is only interested in trying to satisfy residents of big cities in southern Canada. (Translation ends)

I am more or less outraged and unhappy by these new federal firearms control proposals. I regard them as yet another assault on our way of life and as an offensive slap in the face to traditional aboriginal ways and northern lifestyle. Despite the best efforts that have been made by the Ministers of Justice and Renewable Resources and despite the advice the Honourable Allan Rock received from northern leaders, the federal government has demonstrated its unwillingness...