Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the seconder of this motion I feel that in time when we look at how many years it has taken us to get to where we are, I think people have to realize just going back four and a half years, before most of the Members ended up in this House, was the first time that all 34 communities in the western Northwest Territories had the opportunity to sit down in one room and talk about the constitution for the new Western Territory. I am talking about the first constitutional conference that was held here in Yellowknife, which a lot of Members here took part in. I think that out of that conference was the first time we had the opportunity to look at some events that happened in the new Western Territory regarding the Iqaluit agreement, the Bourque Commission report and through the discussions between the aboriginal communities, people from non-aboriginal communities and all people in general, we were able to have an opportunity to put the issues on the table and understand where each of us was coming from. Through that dialogue and through those discussions people were able to get a better understanding of where the aboriginal communities were coming from, and the people in the larger centres where their aspirations were also.
As part of that constitutional conference, there were 22 recommendations which came out of that conference that clearly identified how the groups were going to work together. This was only four and a half years ago. I think people do not realize that was the first opportunity for all the people in the Western Territory to talk about this issue. Since then, we have not had another constitutional conference, we are in the process of considering, discussing the possibility of having another conference and talk about where we are today with the new political aspirations that are happening in the west such as the self-government arrangements, consideration of the Northern Accord, the Political Accord, the aspirations of people in this territory.
I think because of the lack of time and the opportunity that we did not give the residents of the new Western Territories, it is where we find ourselves today. I think it is important as residents of the new Western Territory, that we do take the time. We need that time to sit down and discuss exactly where all 34 communities in the Western Territory see this government going after division. People say we had no interest in the constitutional process, it is dead, it will never come back again, but I think as members on the Constitutional Steering Committee, and people in the Western Territory we did not feel that the time was appropriate. We needed to seriously take the time regardless if it happened after April 1, 1999, or the year 2005, we will have that opportunity to discuss it and take our time and come to an arrangement that we can all live with.
Mr. Speaker, we did not allow ourselves to take that next step. I think it is important as Members of this House we allow ourselves that time. I also feel that 26 days is not appropriate for anyone, government or an individual Canadian citizen, to develop a case of an appeal of such magnitude in that short time frame. I strongly recommend to my colleagues to support this initiative to ensure that as a government we are able to sit down and have dialogue and resolve this issue by discussion. Not by force, not by decision by a court. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.