Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During 1983-87, when I was president of the Dene Nation, and even before my time, there were entire assemblies of the Dene Nation that took sometimes two to three days, put all the business aside and spoke directly to an issue regarding the conduct of chiefs and executives of the Dene Nation, and specifically to the issue of drinking of alcohol. Delegate after delegate would walk up and demand that all the leaders, the chiefs, the executive of the Dene Nation be forced to declare whether or not they were willing to abstain from drinking.
Prior to 1986, I dreaded the day when those assemblies came because I knew, without a doubt, I would be put on the spot, and I would lament the hours that this was taking up, saying there's business to take care of, we have financial statements to review and pass, and we have motions to deal with. I didn't want to deal with those particular issues. I was not ready to do that. There was absolutely no way in which I would be able to, with a straight face, say yes, okay, you asked me. I shall quit drinking. I shall abstain from drinking while in office.
When an issue like this comes up, it is an emotional issue. Some of us have difficulty with it because it is a personal issue. At the end of the day, it's a personal issue, and the way we address it can reflect perhaps, and be seen to reflect, on our colleagues, on each other.
So it becomes difficult but, in my view, whether or not this bill had wide circulation before it was thrown in front of us, we have to be ready to address it.
I believe that every chief, every Metis leader, every elected person, every person in a position of power, every person in a position of trust has to be able to say that, yes, they support that principle.
I think we have to set some very strong examples, some very clear examples and up front set some really high standards so that people who aspire to hold office, people who aspire to positions of power, trust and authority know up front what it is that they have to meet before they get in there. This is what I like about this initiative. It's fine to say we have the power to discipline each other, but I say that we should let people know long beforehand that if you aspire to be a chief, if you aspire to be an elected person, an MLA, then you should know up front that you have to commit to zero tolerance, no matter what.
You look at the kind of impact, the kind of leadership that people like Ghandi and Martin Luther King provided, not only to their own people but to people all over the world. When thousands of their followers, millions of them, advocated violence, they stuck to the principle of zero tolerance.
Look at the impact that these individuals had. You can imagine. I can imagine the kind of impact that collectively all of us would have. Once we have completed debate and we choose to take, collectively, a very strong stand because I believe not all of us will be back here. There's an election coming and if anything, we should set some very high standards for the next batch of people. I think that if we had done this 10, 15, 20 years ago, what a difference it would have made, what a wonderful difference it would have made about the kind of people that would have passed through these halls and sat in this Legislature. I think it would have made a tremendous difference in the kind of people who got elected and in the conduct of those Members over the years. That's the significance for me of saying up front, here are the standards, here are the rules.
When I travel in my constituency -- whenever I travel, but particularly when I travel to my home town -- it has been a practice for me, since 1986, to let people know that I don't drink; that when I bring my children with me, I don't want anybody drinking. It's clear to my friends, to my relatives, that it's for my protection and it's for the protection of my children. I will not walk into a house where there is drinking, where there is partying, and I will not let my children be subjected to, to be present in the company of people who are drinking.
To this day, it's eight years now that I've been able to comply with that and have my family comply with that. It's had a good impact. I just don't have any tolerance for it and people accept that. I haven't been harmed. I've been yelled at, called a few things once in a while but basically there is an understanding. There's no less expectation of other elected people for that. There's a certain amount of respect that all of us want and expect and I think that once you tell people, once people know what is acceptable and not acceptable and you're willing to advocate it and speak to them about, people aspire to meet the standards you set.
Today I have no excuses. If I am convicted of violence in order to protect myself, I have to believe that if I am brought to court, that the courts will be fair. I have to believe that. In all the years I've been in office, in the Dene Nation and certainly as an MLA and as a Minister, I've never had a situation where I've had to do anything with regard to violence. When there were occasions that came... There is no hesitation on my part if I see someone attacking my mother for me to step in there. I would know, however, if I beat the person to a pulp and do extensive damage to the person that, yes, I will properly be severely punished in a court of law for using excessive force.
I have personally seen extreme cases of violence, violence inflicted on myself and my family, and it is difficult to say, yes, you will be reasonable about protecting them. It is difficult but I believe that we have to try and be reasonable about it and just simply say that at the end of the day we have to adhere to the view that whatever the reasons are, whatever the situation is, we must adhere to the principle of zero tolerance but still protect ourselves and still protect our loved ones.
Again, I believe that there is room for amendments that will improve on this bill. I believe that whether it's a government bill or a private Member's bill, that there's always room for improvement, for clarification, for better definition, for amendments. I look forward to dealing with this bill and seeing some improvements made to it as all of us have heard some very good suggestions made over the last few weeks. Thank you very much.