In the Legislative Assembly on March 25th, 1999. See this topic in context.

Member's Statement 64-13(7): Appreciation Of Support
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 126

Manitok Thompson Aivilik

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was just going to say thank you very much and goodbye, I am going home tomorrow. I would just like to mention a few people who have helped me here while I have been here. The first person I would like to say thank you to and I do respect this man very much, as I have a lot of respect for David Hamilton. When I became a Minister, I was given the portfolio of Municipal and Community Affairs and I wanted to do my best for my Premier, Mr. Don Morin. I do appreciate all the advice and support he gave me. He just treated me like a human being, I was not treated like the only female on Cabinet. I am still not the only female in Nunavut so there is a lot more of us out there, we just cannot get to the seat very fast.

I would like to thank everyone that I have worked with, the staff, Mr. Hamilton, who I have a lot of respect for and all the research staff, the staff in my office, my past secretaries, and my executive assistants.

It seems to be graduation day for me today. I thought I was going to last for two or three months on Cabinet, but I have lasted this long and I do appreciate all the support I have received from my western colleagues and my Nunavut colleagues, more from my western colleagues because I did not really get along with some of my Nunavut colleagues. I hope we do get along better in the future government.

Anyway, I would also like to say thank you to Mark Evaloarjuk, I really appreciated his friendship, his understanding, his wisdom during Nunavut Caucus meetings, in and outside of the meetings. I guess, at this time, I also would like to thank my husband whom I really appreciate a lot and I have a lot of respect for. I think he is the only husband I know of who would play the guitar for his wife because she is too tired from travelling and needs a good sleep.

Just recently, my 15-year-old son Trevor, last year I guess he had learned to play the guitar and because of my travelling, I have not kept up with what has been happening at my home. Tom was away from town, I went to bed, and I heard somebody playing music and I did not realize, I thought it was a CD playing and I went out and it was my son playing the guitar for me so that I could have a good sleep. For that, I appreciate my boys and my husband. Without their support, I think I would have surely failed. We need a support system as women and I appreciate their support.

I really do get tired of being told that I am the only aboriginal woman and also the only woman in Nunavut. I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Member's Statement 64-13(7): Appreciation Of Support
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 126

The Speaker Samuel Gargan

The Member for Aivilik is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Ms. Thompson, you have unanimous consent.

Member's Statement 64-13(7): Appreciation Of Support
Item 3: Members' Statements

March 24th, 1999

Page 127

Manitok Thompson Aivilik

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I was saying, I felt like a foreign object so many times when I am being told that I am the only woman in the Nunavut government, but the decision was made by the people of Nunavut. This is a decision that was made by the people and it has already been discussed and it should no longer be open for discussion.

I would like to thank every one of my staff who have been very supportive and loyal to me, I respect them highly. I have gotten to know a lot of them, which I have tried to do. I appreciate them for the last supper that they had for me, where I just started crying because I appreciated the time they had for me and the organizing that went into that supper. I would like to thank each and every one of the Nunavut Members who will be going to Nunavut with me and also to the western Members who voted me to be on Cabinet. Thank you for your confidence. I hope I have done you well and I hope I have served your communities well. I hope that I have served the aboriginal leaders here in the west well, I hope I have listened to them and understand their determination and aspirations.

I think we are lucky in a way that in Nunavut we have 80 percent aboriginal. I am very happy that we will be speaking our language in our Nunavut government. It is my language, I dream in it, I think in it, it is part of me and I will be so glad to speak without thinking. When you have to speak English, it is a little bit more difficult because you have to think before you speak so that you are not using the wrong words. When you are speaking your own language, it is like you are in paradise or something, it is a completely different world. I do not know what paradise is like, but it certainly feels like that to go home to Nunavut to speak in my own language, to live in my own culture, to govern the people with the language they understand, the majority of them. I do know it is going to be a public government, it is going to be the people's government. I do know that and everybody should feel welcome to our government.

There will be non-aboriginals in our government and they will be as welcomed as anybody else. We are partnerships, they are family to us, but when you speak your own language, it is a different experience.

Thank you so much, all the staff upstairs, all the staff downstairs. You have made my life a lot easier. I would like to say goodbye to all my friends that I have made here in Yellowknife, in the western Arctic. I would like to say thank you to my Mom and Dad, they believed in me, and the Ministers that I sat with, they believed in me also and I appreciate them. Whoever takes my seat here, all the luck. Thank you.

--Applause

Member's Statement 64-13(7): Appreciation Of Support
Item 3: Members' Statements

Page 127

The Speaker Samuel Gargan

Members' statements. Mr. Morin.