Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak on the principle of the bill. Every since this bill was introduced, I have thought about it. It's a very difficult bill because this is a law that we're making for ourselves as individual MLAs, so we're drawing the focus internally into ourselves and it's a difficult thing to do. I realize the principle behind the bill is that if any Member is convicted of a Criminal Code offence they automatically lose their seat. That is quite a strong bill. I have difficulty with it because the way the bill is written it deals with a specific process for an individual who commits an act of violence. Disciplinary action should be taken first, I think, before we implement this bill. If this bill passes, then we have a chance to debate it in committee of the whole and perhaps the committee could do some work on making amendments to it.
I did want to say, just looking at the figures, that in the act of violence... The majority of the people in our jails, 90 per cent of the people in our jails, are aboriginal people. The aboriginal population is about 64 or 65 per cent of the Northwest Territories. We have an extremely high rate of aboriginal people who are convicted under the Criminal Code in our jails today. The people who have been kicked out of the Legislative Assembly have always been aboriginal people. In this way, I see this bill aimed more towards aboriginal people than non-aboriginal people. We're going to have to deal with that.
The majority of the cases are alcohol-related anyway. We have been trying, in the Legislative Assembly, to make laws and legislation to try to deal with the violence in our society. As a Dene person, I have sometimes encountered a lot of violence and a lot of the time I've had to protect myself. That's the case with many people here. If I ever get into a situation like that again... I know that the honourable Member, Mr. Dent, is saying that if you're going to be protecting your family or yourself, then this bill would allow for that but I don't think so. It's going to be left up to the courts to decide that. The courts will decide whether you were protecting yourself or you were protecting your family. It's not this Chamber that's going to decide whether what you did is allowable or not.
In this way, I have difficulty with this bill because I've done things in the past. If somebody really wanted to, they could come after me and I could be convicted. I'm sure that aboriginal Members and maybe non-aboriginal Members know what I'm talking about. There I have difficulty because we're focusing in on ourselves again. I would like to say this for the record, that I have seen this bill, I've talked to people in the communities, and I have received a lot of form letters, as well, from different people who want me to support this bill. I'm going to support the principle of the bill so that we get it into the committee and hopefully we get it into committee of the whole, but I wanted to say these things for the record, that I have some real strong reservations about this bill. Everybody wants us to pass it. Sure we should set examples, but I think it's really up to individual Members to be accountable to the people who put you here. You have to conduct yourself in certain ways. The reason why you are here is to represent people in the communities and you have to watch how you do things.
Like my colleagues who were in Ottawa to talk about these new gun control laws, if you don't abide by the real strict regulations, if you don't have a firearm's license, if you don't register your rifles and continue to pursue traditional lifestyles of lending each other rifles and store them loaded by your tent when you go out spring hunting in case of black bears around your camp, it might take this law to the extreme case. As I said, it's not going to be up to this Assembly whether you're convicted or not, it's going to be up to the courts. Based on that, I think we're going to have to look at this bill when we debate it in the House.
(Translation) This is all I wanted to say. Thank you.