Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is International Women's Day. For 32 years, Mr. Speaker, my wife, Della, and I have been residents of the Northwest Territories. We were married on August 3, 1963, one month before we went to Baffin Island.
It wasn't until I married, Mr. Speaker, that I fully realized what civilization really meant. I suspected that many women belonged to a different culture, to the jock male culture that I was most familiar with. In my young bachelor days, Mr. Speaker, I never seemed to have a home, it was more like camping. My wife, Della, changed all that. Order was brought to my life and a sense of purpose. It struck me in the early years of my marriage that women were really the architects of our civilization, and it made me approach my understanding of history in a completely different way. They provide the basis for settlement and stability, they're the strongest voices in our society against injustice, abuse and intolerance.
Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate International Women's Day, all I feel I can do is talk about my personal experience living in harmony with a clever, talented, hard-working, strong woman. This month, my wife, Della, will retire after spending the past 18 years at the Abe Miller Centre. The work was demanding, the wages modest, but for so many working for non-government agencies, it has been a battle to obtain sufficient funds to keep this vital social service alive. It's a different world to the public service where you don't have to do fund raising to help cover the costs of wages and programs.
Through her, although I'm a person elected to serve, I've learned the true value of community service. She has served without complaint, without expectation of recognition or reward. In thanking her today, I thank all women who are really the true architects of our communities and our civilization.
If the government wants to do one thing to recognize women, it would be to address the obvious inadequacies in the wages many women receive for the often demanding work they take on. It's a systemic problem, Mr. Speaker, which perhaps can't be solved overnight.
I would like to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement, Mr. Speaker.