Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak on the issue of national unity. This legislature is the first one in Canada to consider the national resolution. This resolution is a result of the Committee on National Unity, consultation with people across the Northwest Territories. With that, I would like to thank the committee for their efforts.
We, as Canadians, as northerners face a challenging role as we enter into a new millennium. We are here to promote national unity and on the other hand, create two new territories. Division is not an easy process or an easy answer. Division of the Northwest Territories is a milestone for the residents of the Northwest Territories and Canada. The creation of Nunavut recognizes and affirms aboriginal peoples' inherent right to govern themselves.
It is important that the aboriginal people continue to make a contribution in an active role in any constitutional process, not only in Northwest Territories, but the rest of Canada and to the national constitutional process we have undertaken. People of the Northwest Territories have already faced a number of constitutional processes on a wide variety of issues such as division of the Northwest Territories, aboriginal issues, treaty entitlement, land claims, self-government and finally the long Royal Commission process in regard to aboriginal peoples and the report that was tabled with the federal government.
For myself as an aboriginal person, I feel strongly that the whole aboriginal agenda has to be seriously looked at along with any constitutional process in Canada, especially in regard to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples Report and the recommendations that went along with that report. Canada is a land of opportunity and we enjoy the right of freedom to express it. However, Canada has not always been open in regard to when it came to aboriginal people and their freedoms. Historically the door has not always been open in regard to participation of aboriginal people in Canada. The history of Canada is not one of democratic participation. The door has just recently been opened to aboriginal peoples' participation in the constitutional processes in Canada. It has been through our desire to continue that process and historical work that the fathers of confederation and the goals that are not to be undone but to recognize and affirm these processes.
Aboriginal people have come a long way and the division of the Northwest Territories is proof Canada now represents and honours rights of aboriginal people, the inherent right of self-government in recognition of section 35 of the Canadian Constitution. Our future with the result, generation upon generations of Canadians making the difference by working together and not apart. We are here to rekindle a sense of national pride and commitment that all Canadians have. However, it does not end there. It is a ongoing process that strives to come together and work together for a national agenda for all Canadians, one that includes all Canadians, the aboriginal peoples and the Quebecers. I am proud to be an aboriginal person and a Canadian, with that, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
--Applause