Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be supporting the motion. Before I was an MLA, I was a cultural consultant for the Keewatin region and I know for a fact there are more traditional roots between Arviat and Whale Cove than any other community in the Keewatin. Their languages are similar. They have more people in Whale Cove. A large percent of people are from Arviat. There is a very strong traditional tie between Arviat and Whale Cove. I was talking to an elder this past weekend. This person told me a majority of the people in Whale Cove are originally from Arviat. For people that are from the West, it is hard to understand this. For example, Rae-Edzo would be Arviat and Yellowknife would be Yellowknife and Wha Ti is Whale Cove. It would be hard for Wha Ti to belong to Yellowknife because the people in Yellowknife would be just talking about the Aurora Fund, when Wha Ti is talking about traditional cultural community grassroots issues.
For that reason, Rae Edzo and Wha Ti belong together more than Yellowknife and Wha Ti. It is the same similarity in Rankin Inlet. We have a large percentage of aboriginals and half of that population is now white people. We have a problem in Arviat with birth rates. In Rankin there is a problem with the influx of different cultures coming into the community, I can give you another example. In Iqaluit, the same as Rankin Inlet and Lake Harbour, and the same as Whale Cove where Iqaluit MLAs are just talking about contracts and the Lake Harbour MLA is talking about community empowerment or economic development officer being transferred to the hamlet. There are differences.
If you go back to the traditional roots, Arviat is more related to Whale Cove. For that reason, I support this motion. I have been in the region all of my life. I have not been there just for the last two years. I speak from the elders' perspective. Thank you.