Thank you Mr. Krutko. Members' statements. Mr. Roland.

Thank you Mr. Roland. Members' statements, members' statements, Mr. Henry.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today a draft constitution for the new western arctic is being tabled in this House. This document is being prepared by the Constitutional Development Steering Committee, the Western caucus and Aboriginal summit. It is being presented today to the citizens of the Northwest Territories for review, this is not the be all and end all but a starting point where each citizen can provide input into the constitution that will govern our future. Over the next few months, we will be receiving input as to whether or not this draft is what the people want. I urge all, especially western MLAs of this government to make yourself available to your people, find out what they have to say, bring their input back, so that we can create a constitution that is truly reflective of the people that we govern. That, Mr. Speaker is our challenge, the real challenge goes to the residents of the Northwest Territories who will have to provide us with their comments and concerns. We need to hear from them, we need to hear what they like and don't like in the package, and what we can do to make this a constitution all and for the people of the new Western Territory. If we fail to create a constitution for the new Western Territory, we will be left with the NWT Act. Mr. Speaker, I think we are ready to go beyond this and can carve out our own future. Let's all work toward making this happen, for the future generation. Thank you Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Members Statement, Mr. Kakfwi.

The member for Sahtu is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Do we have any nays? There are no nays, Mr. Kakfwi. You have consent.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Members' statements, Mr. Antoine.

(Translator) Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seldom talk in my own language, so I would like to take advantage of it today and talk in my own language. What I will be talking about today is the constitutional package that was tabled today. The Dene, the Aboriginal people, when we are talking about the Aboriginal self government, that they actually want to govern themselves and the reason they wish to govern themselves is because they believe this part of the country is their land. When we are sitting today at the Legislative Assembly, the Legislative Assembly has been in the Northwest Territories for quite a few years. There are a lot of issues from the NWT that concern the North and concern the people from the communities that are seldom brought up today.

There are a lot of issues concerning all the communities in the North. There is one that we have really worked on, it is a paper on how we can work together, it is called the Draft Constitution Package, we have worked on this paper quite extensively and the Ministers and the ordinary members have sat together to work on this paper. We have worked on it pretty well all summer and after all the meetings that we went through regarding this, we finally tabled this constitutional development paper today. Why we tabled it today is because we want to hear the input from the communities. We would like to hear from them, what they think of what this constitutional paper, and if there is anything that they like or dislike about this constitutional paper, we would like to hear from them, and after all the consultations have been done... My time has run out. I would like to seek unanimous consent to continue what I am saying.

The member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You have unanimous consent Mr. Antoine.

(Translator) Thank you Mr. Speaker. What I am saying is the item we are working on is very important, so we should all read it and get to know it really well, and then we can continue working on it. Some of the people have not read it and yet, they are talking in such a way it sounds like they dislike it, but I don't feel that it is right. What we should do is, we should leave it, get to know it and discuss it and then maybe we can come up with something better. This is what I am saying today, and since at the time I would like to express that and in the future we can keep working on it, and the people who would like to have some input into it, they are welcome to voice their opinions. In the future if everybody is in agreement maybe we can eventually ratify it and I also think eventually it will be finished with and we are not the only ones who should be having input into it. In Ottawa, the Federal Government, the Minister of Aboriginal Indian Affairs and Northern Development, he also has to get to know it and if he agrees with the document and then they will be coming up with a legislation and through the NWT Act it will come about. I am thankful that I am able to talk to you about this today, and in the future we will be continuing to talk about it, so this is what I want to say today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. I have some difficulty, did you make your statement as a Minister or as a Member. Just to remind the Ministers that they may make statements as Ministers regarding item that are under their responsibilities and that Members' statement is for other than what they wish to speak to, that is not their responsibility. Just to remind the member of that. Members' statements, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. My statement today is on the Draft Constitution Package that is being presented to the public for review and comment. Mr. Speaker, during my campaign last year, I went through the Yellowknife North riding. I heard many times that people were afraid that Yellowknife was going to become an isolated state, isolated from the rest of the west. Many of these people are long term northerners, others were not, but all of them recognized that Aboriginal people have the inherent right to govern themselves, this is a right of all people, it is an international law. These people were afraid that regional self-government negotiations would result in strong regional governments. Maybe, it would even split the west into several territories. These people are afraid the system described in the Bourque report could result in Yellowknife being isolated from the communities. They were talking about the "we", "they", "us", "them" syndrome. This summer and into late last night, I worked on this Constitution Package. I worked to bring Aboriginal self-government and public government together into a central government in hopes that it would not result in an isolated Yellowknife, and Yellowknife being a state unto itself. Mr Speaker, this is not a perfect document, but it is the starting point that people said they wanted.

People said that never before had this Assembly prepared a draft constitution for them to discuss. We have done that. There is a draft constitution for people to review. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

The Member for Yellowknife North is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Do we have any nays? There are no nays. You have unanimous consent, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. In reviewing this draft package, I urge people to have open minds, to read the document, before you close your minds to new ideas. See the checks and balances before you criticize. Remember that

It is a starting point. It is time for the public to review the package, to evaluate the ideas in there, and to comment. It will then be our jobs to revise what is in there, and to bring something back to the people to vote upon. Thank you.

Thank you. Members' Statements. Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to rise as a Member for Tu Nedhe today. It has been exactly one year today, I believe, that all of us ran for an election in 1995. We have been here for a year, elected for a year; I think it took three weeks to a month to be sworn into office, so we have not quite been at our duties for a full year. I look back over that year and see the accomplishments of Members of this Assembly on behalf of the people who elected them. Today is an important day. The Working Group of Constitutional Development will later on today table "Partners in a New Beginning", a Draft Constitution Package.

That document has been a long time in coming. People of the North have said they have heard enough talk, they want action. They do have that. Now it is up to the people of the North to be positive and move ahead and look at these things with open minds.

Mr. Speaker, I remember when I had the privilege of being elected to this Assembly, some nine years ago. I came here with a fairly narrow perspective on life in general, because I was living in Fort Resolution, and knew only the riding of Tu Nedhe. I did not really know what was happening in the other parts of the North, especially the eastern arctic. Since that time, I have had the privilege to grow and meet people throughout the Northwest Territories, and people up and down the valley. I have a general feeling that people in the Northwest Territories want to work together to keep the Western Territory together and move it ahead into the next century, as a one Government system, where it recognizes that Aboriginal people do have a right to self-government. It also recognizes reality, that we as Northerners have to work together. That is the way it has always happened in the past, regardless of whether you talk about the fur trade, or you sit and you listen to what elders say. All the time in the past, people worked together. That is how they survived.

Well, I think today, that we have to work together; all people in the Northwest Territories--in order to survive.

Mr. Speaker, in my office I have this saying on my wall, that the press will always come up with the negatives, so think positive and try to get across the positive message. And once again, the press have not let us down, and they have come out on the negative. But that should not be new to any of our Members here, as long as the public realizes that you cannot believe everything that is being said in the newspapers.

This is a good day for Northerners, and it is a good day for all Northerners. We must move ahead. We do not need the rhetoric of some politicians already coming out, elected leaders in the North, speaking against this Constitution, calling it apartheid, calling it a South African-type document. This is good for the North. We have to work together. We will work together. We will overcome the negativeness and we will work positively and we will have the Constitution made in the North by Northerners by April 1, 1999.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Morin. Members' Statements. Are there any further Members' Statements?

Mr. Morin, (Translator) What Mr. Morin has said, I really agree with. It has almost been a year since we have been elected to sit in the House. There is a Constitutional paper that was brought out today. I would like to say something about this paper, but it is kind of difficult for me. The people from the western arctic, the Aboriginals, the non-Aboriginals, they are kind of reluctant when they think about this Constitutional paper. I would like to inform them that this Constitution is on behalf of all of us. Thank you.

Returns to Oral Questions. Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I return to Oral Question asked by Mr. Miltenberger on October 8, 1996, in respect to the status of Trailcross facility privatization.

Trailcross will be in operation on November 1, 1996. To date no former employees have been hired, although one resident of Fort Smith has been hired in a clerical position. No other job offers have yet been made, since the contractor is still in the process of reviewing applications and interviewing selected candidates.

To date, two former employees have been interviewed. The contractor, Integrated Human Resource, is committed to hiring in the North, and has only been reviewing applications from the North. Most of the applications have been from Fort Smith. Interviews were conducted in Fort Smith during the week of October 1, and will again be conducted in Fort Smith this week.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Recognition of visitors in the Gallery. Mr. Krutko.