Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be voting in favour of this motion. Mr. Speaker, I have had a very difficult time dealing with this issue. Last night we had a little gathering at my house to welcome my brother, George back to the north. It was a good time to have everybody around. Nobody talked about this issue. No pressure was put on me, but, Mr. Speaker, people say that things happen for a reason. I sat there and I looked at my family, at my brother who has been working for aboriginal rights for all of his adult life and I realized I had to do what was right and not what would probably be best for me.

Mr. Speaker, this issue is more than about seats for Yellowknife. It is more than about seats for Inuvik and Hay River. It is about how rights are interpreted, our aboriginal rights, treaty rights are interpreted. I am very disturbed that the Cabinet has decided not to discuss this issue, not to vote. This is a very, very important issue. Mr. Speaker, I am an MLA, I am also a northerner. I was born and raised in Yellowknife. At the same time I am still a lawyer, I pay my dues every year as a non-practicing lawyer. I have read this case. Justice de Weerdt has said he remains unpersuaded that section 3 of the Charter is in any sense to be understood as qualified by section 25 of the Charter or section 35 of the Constitution Act. It is entirely unacceptable that such a fundamental right of citizenship is not recognized and guaranteed in section 3 of the Charter, should be held in suspense and thus be withheld during government negotiations.

Mr. Speaker, I have here a 50 page document that I wrote, researched specifically on the Charter. There are many cases and professors' works that are cited here, Supreme Court cases, Court of Appeal cases. This was written in 1990. Case law has developed even further making those rights even stronger. What the law says is that section 25 shields aboriginal and community rights from guarantees in the Charter from section 3. Section 25 does not deprive anyone's rights, it simply shields collective rights from individual rights. Mr. Speaker, I know that some people will see this as a vote against Yellowknife, but this goes well beyond seats for Yellowknife. It is all about how aboriginal and treaty rights are interpreted.

The Supreme Court of Canada says that you have to read the Charter as a whole, not clause by clause. We cannot allow Justice de Weerdt's ruling that section 3 not be qualified by section 25 to stand. Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court of Canada says that you must read section 3 in light of section 25. I cannot stand by to allow future issues to be resolved on the basis that section 3 rights are super rights that prevail over section 25. Mr. Speaker, I am voting in favour of getting a second opinion from a higher court on important legal issues. We need to know what the rights are in both instances. Both instances, we cannot deprive people of their right to vote, however, we also have to look at aboriginal rights properly; how they are interpreted. We do that by looking at section 3, section 25 and section 35 together. That is how you find out what those rights are. That is why we have to appeal, not because of who is going to get seats and who will not get seats, but to ensure that rights are interpreted properly.

Incidentally, if Friends of Democracy are so sure that their decision is right, they should welcome an appeal because it will simply verify that they are right and that the intervenors are wrong. If they are correct. Mr. Speaker, so what is the effect of the appeal? In my view, it will clarify the rights of both the aboriginal people as well as the individual right to vote. It will help to ensure that rights are properly interpreted in the future. The worst that will happen is a delay. I have been hearing here that we need more time. Any way you look at it we do need a delay. Things are too rushed. We cannot even split Yellowknife properly, Mr. Speaker. We are going to seven seats in Yellowknife. We cannot split it properly because of the way Elections Canada enumerated it. Yellowknife North would now include a new area in the downtown of Yellowknife. Yellowknife North cannot be kept as a whole even though we have enough people in there for two constituencies almost. That is ridiculous.

Mr. Speaker, additionally this government has a duty to consult with the people in the NWT when they are redrawing boundaries. With the aboriginal people, they have an aboriginal right that is constitutionally protected that says they must be consulted. The April 1st deadline does not allow that. It does not allow time for public hearings. Once this bill goes into committee, the committee cannot deal with it properly in such a short time frame. I would submit that even this short time frame alone suggests a need to appeal.

Mr. Speaker, I will be running again in the next election and I am sure some people who intend to run against me will be happy because of the way I am voting. They will think it will hurt my chances of re-election. It probably will hurt me. Mr. Speaker, when I was elected on November 17, 1995, I swore an Oath of Office - I, Roy Erasmus, do solemnly and sincerely promise and swear that I will duly and faithfully and to the best of my skill and knowledge execute the powers and trust reposed in me as a Member of the Northwest Territories council.

Trust reposed in me, Mr. Speaker, that means my constituents trust me to do what is right, all of my constituents. That means I have to put my personal ambitions aside to do what is right for my constituents. I have a great deal of aboriginal people in Yellowknife North and, in the western NWT about half of them are aboriginal and in the current NWT there is even more. Mr. Speaker, it is essential that all of those peoples' rights are interpreted properly. Just as it is important for other non-aboriginal peoples' rights to be interpreted properly. I cannot, in good conscience allow this decision to stand. If it means that people will hold it against me, if it means that people vote me out, so be it.

A little over three years ago when I was campaigning I said when a difficult issue came up, I would look at both sides of the issue and I would do what I think is right. I did not say I would do what is good for Roy Erasmus. Mr. Speaker, I have looked at this issue, I have reread my 50 page document that I wrote several years ago. I have looked at my oath and I have to vote in favour of this motion. I have to vote to ensure that the rights of the people, all of the people of the Northwest Territories are interpreted properly. Thank you.