Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too, would like to speak in favour of the resolution.
Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that the people of the Northwest Territories do not see unity as a priority at this time. Unfortunately, a lot of people are looking at putting bread and butter on the table and at issues that are more closely dear to their hearts. However, this is not an easy issue that we have to deal with. Should this country split? There could be serious ramifications. First, of course, there would be economic ramifications which would affect us socially. There would be less money for programs, less money for the type of government that we want.
Mr. Speaker, this is a great country. Yes, things are not perfect, but I think we have it pretty good. We have constitutionally protected rights. We have freedom of speech, freedom of mobility, people can travel anywhere they want in this country without being stopped. We have protection against discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability. Our constitution also recognizes and affirms aboriginal and treaty rights. Those rights of course are not defined, but they are protected. There is still a long way to go in this area, but I do not believe there is any other country in the world that recognizes and affirms aboriginal treaty rights in their constitution.
Yes, we do have many people who are disadvantaged, but we have the network, the social network. There is social assistance for people who need it, which supplies basic food and shelter. In the north we also provide housing, social housing and homeownership programs. Those homeownership programs go a long way further then they do in south. People are guaranteed education. We have free education up to grade 12. In fact, it is against the law not to go to school up to the age of 16. After 16, I suppose you are on your own. In the area of post secondary education, our government provides grants, loans, forgivable loans for long-term residents and that used to be Canada Student Loans are repayable loans as well. We also have minimum wages, in fact every province in Canada has minimum wages based on their cost of living.
Mr. Speaker, Canada was voted the best country in the world to live for the past four years. This was done by the countries in the United Nations. One Francophone person I know said he has travelled out of this country and people asked him if we were crazy. We were trying to split up the best country in the world to live in. He said he did not know what to respond to people who asked him questions. He feels very strongly that this country should stay together. As I said, we still have a ways to go. Aboriginal people in particular have a long way to go to bring their standards of living up to the rest of Canadians. Aboriginal people have the lowest education rates, highest drop-out rates, highest unemployment, highest rates of social assistance and depending on which statistics a person uses, aboriginal people live six to nine years less than non-aboriginal people. We also have high mortality rates for babies, high suicide rates. We have long outstanding land and treaty claims and we are still negotiating self-government.
Recently the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples put out the report. This commission took a long time to look into these issues. They did many studies. They have made many recommendations to deal with the problems of aboriginal people that I have mentioned. They have recommended that the federal, provincial and territorial governments pour millions of dollars into education, to housing and to help with social and health problems. This is so aboriginal people can take their rightful place in society.
Mr. Speaker, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples Report is a long report and it has taken a long time to respond from the federal government. Having a federal election recently did not help matters, but I understand the federal government is poised to respond in the new year and this government, the Government of the Northwest Territories, is prepared to help the Government of Canada to respond to the Royal Commission's recommendations to help improve education, to help improve economic, health and social conditions of northern aboriginal people. Mr. Speaker, if we could do it alone, we would, but we cannot. We need federal dollars.
At a recent constituency meeting that all the Yellowknife MLAs had here at the Great Hall, there was a small turnout on the unity issue, but there was good discussion. The other Yellowknife MLAs have already touched on this meeting. I just wanted to indicate that there was general support for the intent of the Calgary Framework for keeping Quebec within this country of Canada. There was the feeling that perhaps the clauses in the framework were divisive rather then unifying; could be taken as divisive by Quebecers, but in general, people said they want Quebec to remain. I agree. It was not the best wording in the world, and it still is not, but the intent is to show Quebec that we want them to stay in Canada. The intent is not to analyze how every word is put together and to obtain perfection.
Mr. Speaker, I have not travelled out of Canada that extensively, but this is a world of instantaneous communications and I do know world conditions. I have seen many times on television people travelling hundreds of kilometres because of drought or other natural disasters. You see people, dusty people, on foot, carrying their children, carrying their belongings. Other times, you see children starving in their mother's arms. Other times you see rampaging tribesmen wiping out whole villages because of religious tribal warfare. Other places, like China, you see tanks rolling over demonstrating university students. South America, Indian people in the rain forests are hunted down and killed, so that people can develop their land. We hear people testifying that street children are killed at night because they are bothering the street merchants. In many places of the world, you see elected governments overthrown by the military soon after they are elected. For decades, we have seen a country where bombing their innocent countrymen has become an everyday affair.
Mr. Speaker, yes, Canada has its problems, but when we look at the situation in other countries that I have described, our problems are nothing, nothing. We basically have a good life. What we are striving for is to make that life better and I do not wish to see it get worse. Mr. Speaker, if Quebec leaves Canada, life in the Northwest Territories and Canada will get worse. There will be less money for education, health, housing and our other problems. Our people will be worse off. The Northwest Territories will be worse off and Canada will be worse off. Mr. Speaker, I do not want Quebec to leave Canada, rather, I want Canada to remain to be the best country in the world to live in. Thank you.