Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you,
colleagues. It used to be known as the fork of the forks before the Mackenzie highway operated. People grew their own vegetables, raised their own livestock and earned the title "Garden of the Mackenzie". In 1963, a record flood forced the evacuation of approximately 300 aboriginal people from the lowlands to higher ground. We are now going up the Mackenzie River to the east bank of the Mackenzie to Fort Good Hope. Did you know that Fort Good Hope is the oldest fur trading post on the lower Mackenzie Valley? Hudson Bay Company established the post in 1805.
Farther down the Mackenzie River, on the east banks of the Peel River, we come across the east edge of the Gwich'in territory, there lies Fort McPherson. Before the first Hudson Bay Company post was established in 1840, this tribe was the most dynamic and complex cultural in relation to their southern Dene brothers. Fort McPherson people have elements of cultural significance and usage of the clan system and potlatches and also traded with the Inuvaluit at the trading post.
On the Peel channel of the Mackenzie River Delta, towards the Arctic coast, the Beaufort Sea, is the community of Aklavik. Did you know that before all major facilities were transferred to Inuvik that Aklavik was one of the chief trappers, trading and transportation centres and also known as the muskrat rich capital of North America.
Trading posts were established around 1910. Aklavik is also the place where the infamous Albert Johnson is buried.
We have come to the end of the short journey and I want like to provide you with a snapshot of how these small communities contributed to the northern development and to the rich history we have to date. The point that I am trying to make is that small communities have as much to contribute as large communities. In regard to the political makeup of the Northwest Territories, we have to recognize the historical and cultural diversity of this territory and realize that these communities were here long before a lot of the larger centres were built. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
--Applause