Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to speak about the community of Ndilo in my constituency. It's been more than a decade and a hall now that I have had the privilege of working with the people of Ndilo and the Yellowknives Dene Band. When I started, Chief Isidore Tsetta was the chief of the Yellowknives Band and Eddie Lacome was the subchief for what was then called Rainbow Valley. When I came on to the scene, there was a major jurisdictional problem and everything had stopped in Ndilo. The federal government said it was a territorial responsibility; the municipal government said it was a federal government responsibility and nothing was happening. The people then were real victims of bureaucratic in-lighting.
From that time, I and many of us have always treated Ndilo as its own community. Many times over the last decade and a half we have tried ways to formalize its status as its own community, but there have been so many barriers. But anyhow, the government and the Legislative Assembly were good enough to include Ndilo in the five-year plan and, for all intents and purposes for the last decade, Ndilo has been treated fairly with h other communities in the Northwest Territories. The issue of education has always been a very important issue in Ndilo. I remember that we started off, probably nine or 10 years ago, with a very successful upgrading program. Everybody remembers Florence Erasmus, the Tree of Peace and their kindergarten program in Ndilo which was a mainstay of the community for many years. In the last couple of years, there has been a very successful after-school care program.
The people of Ndilo, for many years, have been frustrated With the lack of success of their students in the education system here in Yellowknife. They have really thought that because they are a community, they should have more community control over the system. I want to thank the Minister. There have been a number of discussions with the Minister and the issue has come up again around the Education Act.
Mr. Speaker, the band is looking at getting support for the head start program, a pre-school care program in Ndilo, this fall. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.