Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I think I hear the voice of Reform.
-- Laughter
Mr. Chairman, I think the Affirmative Action Policy has, in the past, been very divisive and I think it is not only because of the policy but because of the implementation of it so anything we put forward, we have to make sure that the implementation of what is being put forward is a good effort to start putting people in places. Hopefully we are going to do that with without just aiming at numbers, but do it on the quality of the people put forward and I do believe we have the quality of people in the Northwest Territories to fill those positions.
Mr. Chairman, I think that there is a lot of concern out there every time this issue comes forward and it is sensitive and I think the committee has gone a long way trying to address the issues of affirmative action and I think that the work is good. But there are areas of concern when it comes to implementation, that if we are going to set numbers that we make sure we set them on quality of those people filling positions, not just filling positions and I am sure Mr. Todd would agree with that, that we fill positions with quality personnel. We do not want to set people up for failure. We do not want to put people in positions where they would become unhappy in their position and be labelled as non-performers because they have been put in a position that they were not ready to fill just for the sake of filling them. I believe that if the approach is taken right that we can and will show that there are qualified personnel in the Northwest Territories, whether long term, aboriginal, or other that can do the job.
As an aboriginal myself, when I went through the system as the policy first got brought in, I was concerned and I did not like the idea that people looked at me as getting a job because of the colour of my skin or the background I came from. I believe, as most aboriginals in the territories, when we get a job we believe we have done it on our merits and that we can do the job to the best of our ability as long as we are given clear guidelines as to what we are doing. I think that hopefully this process will start putting those pieces of the puzzle into place. Those are important because if we only put parts of a puzzle together, there are still holes and gaps and that is where people fall through and that is where the problems start. So hopefully, as this is being reviewed, it is reviewed in total as we heard earlier and not just pieces of this put together because it is difficult to change direction and attitudes of people and I am sure we will be working for quite some time, even probably until the day that Members of this Assembly are no longer within government we will still be trying to correct attitudes of the people.
I think the people of the Northwest Territories have come a long way in the short time we have been educated, as some people would think. It has been two different lifestyles, from what was to what is today, from my father's generation to my generation, and I think we have come a long way and we should not put that down. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
-- Applause