Thank you, Mr. Chairman. During my first two years in the position I hold as a representative for Inuvik, I have, on many occasions, raised what some would call the human factor in running government. But I think that, as a government, we need to keep going back to that issue. We need to remember who we are here to represent. As we started out in the 13th Assembly, the road to a healthier financial future, healthier children and a better outlook on life, we have worked together on what we called building a foundation for the future of the Northwest Territories' Agenda for Change. During the Territorial Leadership Committee, many Members spoke about this process and the need to measure how far we have come and how far we have yet to go.
Mr. Chairman, as I look through a number of the visions and the main points we set during the early days of the 13th Assembly, I look at some of these, and I say that we have come a long way in a number of areas. But we have many miles yet to travel. There are ten items we named as a vision for the future, the secure financial future to improve social conditions, improve economic conditions, empower communities, work towards community wellness, develop a more effective and efficient government structure, make Nunavut and the Western Territory a reality, take action on aboriginal issues, take control of our own future and be heard at the national level.
Mr. Chairman, these are all great ideas and great for heading down a new road or a new direction. But until there is an implementation plan and something starts to be done, they are just slogans. Now I say we have done well in a number of areas, securing our financial future. We have seen the books balanced, not an easy job, as many of us came to understand when we returned to our communities after making decisions in this forum to see the impact over a number of years especially being a representative in the community of Inuvik where we have already undergone reductions through other sources.
Improving social conditions - have we improved social conditions? We have named a number of plans. We have heard of strategic plans, saying we were going to give more control to the communities, and we have done so. So I think we are on the right track, but there is much yet to be done. How do we qualify improving social conditions? How can we be held accountable to saying we have improved social conditions? It is a very broad term, and without an action plan to implement changes, once again I say it is in the area of discussion of more reports and more studies. We need to see an implementation plan. We need to act on those.
Improving economic conditions. Mr. Chairman, the latest survey that I have available suggests that in the Northwest Territories, in 1994, we had a percentage of unemployed in the area of 17 percent. Can we measure that off? In two years have we tackled any of that? Have we lowered unemployment in the Northwest Territories? We have heard, and I have asked questions recently about the economic panel that the Premier started up. It was discussed a bit in the document under improving conditions. But we need to see results. We need something we can take as legislators to the people and say, these are some of the things we will implement that will not only give big business an opportunity, but the small guy who does not have a high school education, who does not have a degree in business but has all the qualifications of living a lifestyle and living a long lifestyle in the north. We need to make those opportunities available. So a fellow who has travelled the river, hunted many years and raised his family on that can take that ability and make a living with it and not have to pay a big business to allow him to do that.
Empowering communities, we have heard that it has been a good idea. Many people want the ability to take control of their future and make decisions that would impact them. As I have said, they are the best ones that would know how to make reductions in their areas. But at the same time, we must learn from the past. Let us not force change. If the communities are not ready for it, let us not tell them they have to take it. We have done that in the past and we have had it done to us. We always seem to come back to terms like downloading, unloading, right sizing, downsizing, you name it. Let us learn from the past.
We have heard about government being more effective and efficient. I think we have gone a long way in getting more dollars out to the communities and the programs and services. But we still have to clear up the workload that is left behind by those that still have to do the remainder of work that is left. We have not reduced that workload as of today, that I am aware of. For example, the person in FMBS that is filling out all the records of employment in the last pay cheque. Yes, Mr. Todd, we need to clear up some of those lines in the workload.
In making Nunavut and the Western Territory a reality, we state in this document that the federal government must commit itself to where it stands regarding aboriginal self-government, incremental and transitional costs for creating both the new territories, and we say it must be done. The political aspirations of the people of both new territories cannot be denied.
Until we have a commitment from the federal government, I must ask you a question, is it the aspirations or the needs that government should be looking at? I have said it earlier on in my time in the Assembly, that we need to make sure that this does not happen on the backs of those who cannot afford it, both east and west. So we need that commitment to move ahead in an orderly fashion. We have heard that discussed many times in many meetings. We need that commitment, and soon.
Taking control of our own future. Has there been any movement on that issue? I am not aware of it. We have talked about moving control north. Have we done that? We need to focus on those issues. What can we do, not what we cannot do. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.