Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank the Members of the Boundaries Commission for their report. I would also like to thank them for coming into my riding. They came into Fort Resolution. They were unable to come into Lutsel K'e because of a death in the community, so it was put off and they did not have the time to make it back there. This is the second time we have had a Boundaries Commission in the Legislative Assembly that I have been a Member of. The last time it was more to realign the boundaries to make them fit the line between Nunavut and the new Western Territory.

A lot of people in the past have said that when division comes on April 1, 1999, some of the people of the western Arctic were hoping we would have a new constitution to show a clear path of what the new Western Territory would look like. Unfortunately, that has not happened, but talks are ongoing with the people in the Western Territory about how the new Western Territory will look in the future.

I do not think we will ever have the day when the fireworks will go off and we will have a new constitution, a clear direction of where the new Western Territory will go. I think that will evolve through the claim tables and I think that will evolve with the people of the western Arctic working together. Right now, we know that in the Western Territory the Inuvialuit have a claim. We know that the Gwich'in government has a claim. We know that the Sahtu government has a claim. We know that the Dogrib Nation is negotiating a land claim and the negotiations are going fairly well. We know that Treaty 8 is looking at establishing a table to start negotiating a claim. We know that the South Slave Metis are negotiating a claim. We know that the Deh Cho region is looking at some sort of working relationship to explore what they will do with their inherent right of self-government in that region and possibly a future claim. We know these things. We also know that the Aboriginal Summit has requested the Members of the Legislative Assembly to keep the status quo as we evolve into the new Western Territory.

No one can sit here today and talk about the workload of the future because no one knows what that will be. We know it will not be the same as it is today, but we do not know what it will be. We also know that through self-government agreements and through that claims process that aboriginal governments have the inherent right of self-government and they will chose how they express that right, whether that be through a partnership agreement with the federal government and territorial government, which I personally think it should be and I support, or a parallel system. Meaning, direct relationship with the federal government. I think, for the interest of the City of Yellowknife and for the interest of all people in the western Arctic, a partnership approach would be the best approach. I believe that it is our government's responsibility to supply the glue that holds all those regions together.

I myself, personally, am not ready to throw up my hands and give up on establishing a new Western Territory where all people can work together for the betterment of all. I believe that is going to take patience, I believe it is going to take mutual respect to do. I am also not foolish enough to think that if we adopt the recommendations in this Boundaries Commission report that it will not have an affect on all those things I just previously mentioned with aboriginal people. They are watching what we are doing as a territorial government, as a legislature and I think it will have a negative affect on that working relationship.

We always have to be cautious, as we move ahead, of how we can keep people talking, to talk about how we can best move ahead into the future. Can we best move ahead with 16 seats in this Legislative Assembly? Can we best move ahead with 20, 14? Who knows, in the end? Who knows what this central government is going to look like? Who knows what the responsibility of this central government will be, or MLAs, as far as that goes? Who knows what the workload will be for those MLAs? I do not think anybody has the capability here today to predict what that will be.

The aboriginal people out in the small communities, the aboriginal governments, they are going to express their inherent right of self-government one way or another, by working together or by working in a parallel system.

I think that the Boundaries Commission had a very difficult job to do. They had to travel to every constituency in the western Arctic to meet with the people. I notice from their report that they and I quote it: "the political landscape of the Western Territory is changing. It is not possible for us to predict exactly what changes will be made and we have not approached our task by trying to anticipate the structure of government that will eventually be in place. We interpreted our mandate to seek recommendations based on a structure of government as it now exists." As it now exists. I think we would all be fooling ourselves if we think that this same structure of government as it now exists will be in place five years from now. We all heard the people. We all represent people from the regions and it is very clear that five years from now you are not going to have the same structure of government. That will be negotiated at the negotiation tables and, hopefully, and I think I can safely say, that it will be a government that represents all the people. It will be a new structure of government that should lead this country. Just because the southern jurisdictions do things a certain way does not mean that we in the north have to follow suit.

We are unique. We are different. I agree that there are vast differences in numbers between Tu Nedhe and Mr. Henry's riding, which has 7,000 people. Tu Nedhe has 800 people, or something like that. Those are big numbers, but you can adjust the boundaries in Yellowknife alone and reduce those numbers. There is a big difference of trying to get a hold of government living even 100 miles from here than it is walking into this Assembly. You have the centre of government in Yellowknife. You have all the administrative deputy ministers, ADMS in Yellowknife. All the MLAs come here to meet in Yellowknife.

Chief Don Balsillie of Fort Resolution made a good point when he said to us in the Boundaries Commission hearing that in a couple of years when the smoke clears, we will all have a better idea of what the territorial government's responsibility will be. We cannot know whether it will only be a couple years, but we do think that the uncertainty is a good reason to be cautious in our approach.

I heard somebody say, I think it was Mr. Dent, let the people have their say. Well, the people have had their say from Tu Nedhe and they said, no more seats in Yellowknife. Maybe if you want to adjust the boundaries, that is fine, but no more seats in Yellowknife. I do not think the people of Tu Nedhe would have a problem with adjusting the Deh Cho and Hay River electoral districts. I do not think they will have a problem with that, but that is as far as it will go. If there are any motions to be coming forward, I will be voting against any motions to give Yellowknife any more seats. The people of Tu Nedhe have said that and that is how I will vote.

As far as the legal interpretations or opinions, I think you can get many different opinions from many different lawyers, with the greatest of respect to our law clerk. If it goes to a court challenge, that is where it goes. As an MLA for Tu Nedhe, I will not support two seats to Yellowknife. Thank you.