Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, every day when I pick up a paper, I'm reading more terrible stories about child sexual abuse. Today in the Globe and Mail, there is a whole article about the Kingsclear report in New Brunswick where dozens of kids over a long period of time were sexually abused at a training school where homeless kids and emotionally disturbed kids were sent. The authorities, for 30 years, didn't listen to their pleas.

Here in the Northwest Territories, as we all know, child sexual abuse is a very serious problem. It has only been in the last few years that it has been getting the recognition it deserves. I'm not sure if what we're seeing reported now is the tip of the iceberg, or if the full magnitude of the problem is becoming obvious to us.

But the reality is, it is happening here in the territories at a very alarming rate. I guess one of the saddest aspects of child sexual abuse is kids who are abused tend to become abusers and the cycle continues generation after generation after generation. No healthy society in the history of the world has ever condoned child sexual abuse. Unfortunately, in the majority of cases, it is men who perpetrate these offences. To me, a man who abuses a child is not a man; he's a moral coward. No crime is more unnatural or despicable than preying on innocent, trusting children.

I think all of us have a responsibility to stand up and be counted and, as leaders, to state in no uncertain terms that we will not stand for or condone child sexual abuse in our society. There is one organization, I think, that is doing a very useful job in this area and those are the people who have put together the Kids' Help Phone line.

Mr. Speaker, if I could seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.