Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to welcome you and the rest of my colleagues back to our capital city, it is still our capital city for six months for everyone in this House yet. Mr. Speaker, it is not always popular to speak out against initiatives such as the work of the new constitution, but none the less I feel it is my responsibility to raise in a public forum, the serious reservations I have about the state of the constitution development in the western Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot fault the work to date of the Constitutional Working Group, they are working within their mandate and are trying to raise a sense of a very divisive issue. However, I believe strongly that now is not the time to be dealing with constitutional issues in the western Northwest Territories. How can the constitutional working group hope to develop a workable constitution when major players such as the Deh Cho and the Sahtu, refuse to be involved or have withdrawn from the process. Mr. Speaker, how can we realistically expect the federal government to agree to a new constitution when major players are not involved in the process? A new constitution for the Western Territory is not possible until land claims and self-government agreements are settled. It is that simple, Mr. Speaker.

We, as a territory, cannot move ahead economically and constitutionally until these issues are resolved. It is easy to understand the hesitation on the part of aboriginal leaders to agree to any process that may impact their inherent right to govern themselves. Mr. Speaker, I do not believe that a constitutional conference proposed for this fall, would accomplish any measurable result. Consensus is not there.

Ultimately, Mr. Speaker, it is highly unlikely that a workable constitution, acceptable to the majority of residents of the western Northwest Territories would come out of a constitutional conference. Mr. Speaker, even if consensus on a constitution was reached, it would be at best, an interim measure, that would have to be changed each time a new land claim or self-government agreement was reached. The current NWT Act, which is basically the constitution, may be flawed and outdated, but at least all of the players in the western NWT understand it. It will continue to serve as the constitution of the residents of the NWT with minor changes for the time being.

Mr. Speaker, until the inter-relationship between the Territorial Government, aboriginal claimant groups and self-government agreements are defined at the negotiating table there will be no possibility of a constitution. It may take some time for negotiations, but at least then it would be possible to forge a constitution. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.