Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I would like to welcome my colleagues back to our fine city, Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to also speak on a sad note, specifically the passing away of a true pioneer to Canada, to the north, Mr. Jim Turner, who passed away on the weekend at the age of 85 years old. Mr. Turner came to Canada at the age of 14 from England and shortly after he came up north and married into an aboriginal family, specifically my aunt Catherine Erasmus. Recently, in fact, they had celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1993 at Northern United Place. At that time his brother, who was at that time 85 years old, drove up from BC by himself to participate in the celebrations and drove back by himself.

Mr. Turner did a lot of things in his life. In his younger days he did cooking, he was a commercial fisherman, he cut and hauled firewood for mines and towns, he trapped and prospected and a lot of other things. He does have nine children, 25 grandchildren and most of them are living here in Yellowknife. As I said, they celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1993 and shortly after Mr. Turner was going to go back to England to visit his sister and his other relatives there, but unfortunately, he had an aneurism and wound up in the hospital and was never able to go back. His sister and some of her children, his nephews and nieces were able to come here and visit him. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.