The Speaker Samuel Gargan

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Mrs. Thompson, to the principle of the bill.

Manitok Thompson Aivilik

Mr. Speaker, I am too new to this to make a comment. When the NIC had their meetings in the towns, consulting with people on what type of government we want, I felt that the Inuit people in the communities were not properly trained or properly informed or educated to make decisions on what type of government they wanted. In our Inuit society, we have never had party politics. We have lived in harmony, electing our own leaders by the majority of the public. That's the style we have used for thousands of years.

I understand exactly what Mr. Dent and Mr. Ballantyne have said. I know about the structures of the different governments, but my Inuk mind will always say we are not educated enough yet to make decisions on what style of government we want. I wouldn't want to inherit the style of government that was imposed on us or given to us by people who have not lived in our shoes before.

I was very upset at the NIC meeting at being asked without being informed, without being given pamphlets, without being educated on the styles of governments around the world; just to be asked what type of government do you guys want. I understand there has to be team work, but we have done team work in our Inuit communities very well. I guess I'm saying that before we start introducing these bills, from my riding I would like my communities to be educated first as to what types of government there are in the country, what types of government work around the world, before we are given a chance to say anything about what types of styles we need for our future.

Maybe it's good to have party politics, coming from a non-aboriginal point of view, but it just didn't sink into my Inuit mind and I know it didn't sink in my father's mind; no one tried to explain to him that team work in this style of government is a drama played before the public.

I was very upset that my people are not educated enough to be asked what style of government we want yet. Before we do that, we don't feel comfortable making a decision.

I understand where the non-aboriginal people are coming from, and I understand that's the best way for you guys to do it. But coming from a small community, coming from an Inuit perspective, I cannot comprehend this yet. I know the people in the communities cannot comprehend that yet because we have not had any other type of governing body in our communities. Thank you for your time.

---Applause

The Speaker Samuel Gargan

Thank you, Mrs. Thompson. To the principle of the bill. Mr. Lewis.

Brian Lewis Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've listened to all the arguments and I was trying to figure out if there was anything new to say that hasn't already been said.

I also remember eight years ago, or nearly eight years ago, when we had this debate. I was very much in favour, at that time, of the leader, as the person was called at that time, doing the art -- because it is an art -- of putting a Cabinet together that could do all the work that needed to get done; but, there were only five people in support of it and four years later there were six, today there may be as many as seven.

I know that in politics, change doesn't come quickly. Parliamentary systems act cautiously and move along quietly, and you don't do things by revolution; things evolve.

I would speak a little bit about all these bogeymen that people pose about imposing party politics. This Legislature can't impose party politics, but that's what happens; people do that. And if people get so fed up, sick and tired about what goes on here because we can't solve our problems, or don't evolve fast enough, then it will happen. There is a bigger danger in not doing something to improve our system, than setting up the fear that we're imposing party politics on people by what we do. If we don't do things to fix the problems that people are always telling us we have -- and they have been referred to earlier -- then it's very simple to start party politics.

If I wanted to, from now until October, all I would have to do is get enough people -- and I think I need three people -- decide on a platform, register under the societies ordinance, call myself whatever I wanted -- the Equality Party, the Freedom Party -- I could sell memberships, and I can ask people if there are enough of them to share my ideas about where I want to go. It doesn't happen from the top, it happens from the grassroots. That's what's going on right now in our system.

The idea that we don't understand party politics, team politics or the ideology is just nonsense. We have Members of Parliament in Ottawa. We send people there, that's our government. We have two Members right now; we're Liberals. Everybody understands what they are, what they represent, we vote for them and we send them there. That's our government. So, to say that we don't understand is just not right. People do understand. The territories votes in federal elections and send people to Ottawa that we want to have there representing us. It's nonsense for people to say they don't understand what party politics is; they do. Whether they want it in our Chamber here is a different question. That's the question we have to ask.

And, as far as I'm concerned, Mr. Speaker, the problem we have now is this: we've made some token gestures. We decided that we don't want our leader to be called the Government Leader any more and we want that person to be called the Premier, because when that Premier goes to all the meetings with all the other Premiers, we want to show that we are the same as everybody else; for that purpose. Yet, it doesn't mean anything if the Premier is no more than a chairman of the board who makes sure everybody stays more or less decorous, follows the order of business and whatever rules are set down. But, really, there are seven governments here; you don't have one. Whatever a Minister wants to do, he will; as much as he can, decide to do that. Some people like the broken field play, that they have tremendous autonomy to do this, this and this, even though it doesn't seem to be consistent with what other people are doing.

Mr. Speaker, since I promised not to repeat what other people have said, I'll say the danger is this: if we don't improve our own system and do something to fix the problems people say we have, then we will get party politics. And, it will have nothing to do with what people do here, it will have to do with what people do out there. They will decide what will happen. It will only happen, though, if we fail to make our system better, to improve it so that the consensus system that we have will evolve in a way that is consistent with many of the things that have been said in this Chamber about our uniqueness, how different we are and how we solve our problem in a modern way, if you like. It's not only modern, it's a way that is consistent with the traditions that have been passed down over a long, long period of time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

The Speaker Samuel Gargan

Thank you. To the principle of the bill. Mr. Pudluk.

Ludy Pudluk High Arctic

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to speak briefly on Bill 33. I believe what the Member for Aivilik stated earlier, that the communities are not trained in the doings of the government. NTI representatives stated that the representative of Parliament who represents Nunatsiaq said that he supported the people of Nunavut with regard to gun control. He was elected by the people but, because he is a Liberal, he feels he cannot go against the gun control legislation.

Although the Inuit are in support of amending parts of the gun control legislation, Jack Anawak was not able to say whether or not he was in favour of gun control. The Inuit vote for people who can represent them in the best way possible. There are a lot of people who are not in favour of gun control in the north, but the Members of Parliament cannot state whether or not they're in favour of the bill. Although Jack Anawak represents the Inuit, he cannot.

Today, I think people need to be trained and, perhaps, later they will have a better understanding of how to present themselves. If I was to ask people in my constituency about what they know about the bill, a lot of them would probably say that they don't know enough and that there's not enough consultation. Because of this, I cannot support this bill. Thank you.

The Speaker Samuel Gargan

To the principle of the bill. Mr. Allooloo.

Titus Allooloo Amittuq

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with respect to the proposed bill, I would like the proposed bill to be explored more in our Assembly. We have a committee process in this Legislature.

Some Hon. Members

(Microphones turned off)

---Laughter

Titus Allooloo Amittuq

I have been listening with great interest to what Members have to say about this bill and I would like to hear more about it. However, if we don't pass it to second reading, we can't do that.

An Hon. Member

Hear! Hear!

---Applause

Titus Allooloo Amittuq

So I would like the committee to explore the pros and cons of this legislation.

Some Hon. Members

(Microphones turned off)