Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is indeed a very difficult situation we find ourselves in. There are some decisions that we are called upon to make, as leaders, which, as Mr. Erasmus said, supersede and surpass any personal community or regional ambition. Each one of us, I hope, will do what they truly believe is the right thing. A motion has been introduced to ask the government to appeal the decision of Justice de Weerdt regarding the representation of northerners in our public government. The judge has ruled, and a court order has resulted, making it incumbent upon us to address an issue of fair representation of constituents in some ridings. This ruling, as it has already been mentioned, was made by a very learned northern justice with many years of experience and knowledge of the north and its people.
Fair representation in our public government is a constitutional right of every citizen in this country under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Unlike my colleague from Yellowknife North, I am not a lawyer and I do not claim to understand all of the issues with regard to that Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As leaders, we are confronted with the proposition that by upholding the right of fair representation to one area, that we will be infringing on the rights of another community of northerners. That this ruling negatively impacts treaty and the inherent right of self-government by aboriginal First Nations is the argument that is made. It is an argument that was put forward to the courts before this decision was made.
This government, to my understanding, in fact, has little effect on the treaties which are currently being negotiated. These are treaties with the federal government, and apart from acting in a support role, it has always been my understanding that this government has little say in the outcome of these negotiations. Thankfully, as of late, there has been some significant progress in a number of these tables over the recent months, and this is very encouraging to everyone. The motion before us today is asking this government to appeal the ruling of the court. I am not sure what new arguments could be brought to the table, but if there are any, I am hopeful and believe that they can be very capably brought forward by the aboriginal intervenors and their legal counsel. This government has rightly offered to support that process, and I also support that move by our government.
In the meantime, we have been advised that we, as a government, do not have any grounds to appeal this ruling. For that reason, it is important to act, what I consider to be responsibly, and to somehow respond to this court's ruling. To that end, legislation has been drafted and has received first reading in this House that would address the issues of representation in the ridings deemed to be unconstitutional because of under-representation.
Mr. Speaker, personally the status quo worked for me. As I already said, this is not about me, it is not about my riding. It is about the rights of constituents to be fairly represented. I supported the stand that 14 Members were sufficient after the boundaries commission, and when it was a political decision, that was the decision of this House. But now, it has become a legal question and yes, as Mr. Morin said, we do have a gun to our heads because it is a legal question. In some ways, I feel that we are partly responsible for that pressure because myself, along with other members of this House, voted against essentially, the recommendation of the boundaries commission and stayed with 14 Members even though we knew, at the time, from our legal advice, that this decision would probably not withstand a court challenge. A court challenge came and, in fact, it would appear that, for now it was successful.
I also want to say that Friends of Democracy had the right to appeal to the courts as any citizen in this country has. The court agreed with them and now we, as a government, are forced to respond to that ruling. The real solution to this question could and should have been addressed through political and constitutional channels. In spite of 20 years of dialogue on constitutional development in the west, the process was stalled mostly, I feel, by the lack of progress, of self-government and land claim discussions between aboriginal groups and Ottawa. I think we do have to put some responsibility on the federal government for that lack of progress. Now, as I said, we are seeing progress on that front and this will hopefully assist in arriving at things in the west such as political and economic accords. In the meantime, I feel confident that these representation issues could be addressed for now by complying with the judge's ruling and the subsequent appeal by the aboriginal summit.
When you look at the history of the electoral boundaries, there is really nothing sacred about the existing boundaries. Since the eighth council, which started in March, 1975, the only two assemblies which shared the same electoral boundaries during that whole period of time in 24 years were the 12th and 13th Assemblies. All the rest, there were variations in the boundaries and in the name of the ridings and so on. I try to look at the fibre of people, what they stand for, what virtues they possess such as integrity and fairness. When I look at our northern leaders in and outside of this House, aboriginal and non-aboriginal, for the most part, I am very reassured by what I see. As indicated by Premier Antoine today, let us not throw away the trust and respect that we have achieved by falling prey to the temptation to substitute rhetoric for reason.
What makes us different from each other is so little compared to what we share in common as northerners. I truly believe that all the Members of this House effectively and honourably represent their constituencies with fairness. Those constituencies, including mine, are made up of aboriginal and non-aboriginal constituents. We are all here for the long haul, so it behooves us to live well together, rural and urban, aboriginal and non-aboriginal. Although, I cannot support the appeal of the court's ruling, Mr. Speaker, I want to make it very clear that I do support the appeal by the Aboriginal Summit, and I will continue to support the ongoing dialogue on all issues facing our territory and will do so in the spirit of, as our prayer says, bringing peace and justice to our land. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
--Applause