Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this constitutional process, I regard it as a continuation of a long process. It did not start when the document was tabled, it has been there for many, many years. As far as I could remember, when I first became involved in politics back in 1972/73, there was talk about it then. Over the years, there has been a lot of different forms and previous Members of the Legislative Assembly and were part of the evolution of a constitution here in the north. Those people know who they are. They are part of the process. It is not something new, it is something that has been going on for many years.

Yes, I agree that people see the guiding principles as something that they could generally support. Perhaps the model that we put forward was too different from our present system that it caused a lot of very negative reactions. That is easy to fix. We have other models. The idea there is to, once you agree with the guiding principles, then how do you integrate aboriginal self-government with public government? That is the question. That is what we are attempting to do, and if there are different suggestions out there, once you agree with the guiding principles, then bring those suggestions forward, and that was what the goal of the Constitutional Working Group was when we put the document forward. It was a draft document. It is not a final document and from there people would work off it and make suggestions and make the changes.

The honourable Member may be correct when he says that it is the tip of the iceberg and that because we put a model forward that is not acceptable to a lot of people, that we may have done a lot of damage to the process. Perhaps he is right. I am optimistic. I am hoping it is not. I am hoping that there is enough good will out there in the north and I have said this all along, that the people in the north, we have lived together, we are a small population, we live together in the communities and the reality is that we do live together in the communities and that we do work together in the communities and that the desire there is that we are going to continue to work together and live together in communities. Let us see how we could describe it today, so that it will be reflective of how we work together today and into the future. That is the attempt right here. I think people would agree with that.

The document itself is basically a framework of how a society would live together. It is like the parameters of how you live together in communities. We cannot really get into specifics of it then. It is supposed to be something that we could live with today and into the future, and that is the attempt right there, and it is totally different from what is going on in the south. Coming from the north, I like to see something developed in the north by northern people. I think a lot of people would agree with that. I am optimistic that, it is a big chore, yes, we have ahead of us, but I think it could be done and I am committed to see it as far as it is going to go. I think our partners, the aboriginal leaders, who are committed to make it go as far as it could go, I think that they have compromised up to this point quite a bit in their positions, and I think that as we develop this document you are going to see that aboriginal peoples are willing to compromise in trying to make something workable, especially in something as big as the constitution. Thank you.