Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I too, I guess, have had the chance to make a tour at the community levels. We have heard a lot of very interesting subjects. I certainly would like to appeal to my colleagues to give good, long thought to this recommendation that we are making hoping that they will be able to support us. Certainly there is great animosity within the communities we have visited, including my home community. Making a Member's statement the other day, I made an illusion as to what might happen in the future if the bill passes on as it is, and that it was going to be a dark day in the history of the Northwest Territories. Making some illusion to my Member's statement today too, regarding the same issue surrounding it, my intention was to give a compliment to the Government of Canada, the federal government, and the territorial government as well. I certainly believe that both governments are obligated to work with aboriginal people that they serve. Certainly, they do it well to a certain extent. In most cases, I guess, aboriginal people do not agree with them. However, overall they are well in line with what they are mandated to do.
The reason why I made my Member's statement today regarding both the territorial government and federal government living up to their obligations and then believing that most of the other smaller communities and including specifically the city of Yellowknife, I guess, are not in tune or in line to work with the rest of the government, although they are a municipal government. I assume they are not totally interested in aboriginal issues or supporting it in any way. I feel that they are out there just more or less for power grabs or giving more power to the city of Yellowknife.
In our travels into the communities, I heard one time or another that some Member said that maybe the extra seats that the city of Yellowknife are acquiring through the courts, are not justifiable. It should not be. They felt that maybe the extra power should be given to the City of Yellowknife as to the aldermen, not to the extra Member, to the City of Yellowknife. I kind of believe it too, but I guess after the court ruling I guess it is not going to be likely to happen. I, along with the other aboriginal descent as I promise, I support the aboriginal intervenors such as the Metis Nation and the Dene Nation because they are my own current organization that I belong to. I certainly had to support them. That is the reason why I have defended them to a certain extent and then I came along with the committee to listen to their views out into the communities. After saying that, knowing all the comments and the pressures that we have been getting from here, and what was expressed here in this House, we certainly do not really come from our own personal point of view. It certainly has come from the people that we do represent. I, for one, do not feel that I am just out here just to represent my own personal feelings. Certainly, on behalf of the aboriginal groups out there and the organization, the last four years that I have sat here, and I have voted, freely the way I wanted, in some cases I must have voted against the government. In some cases I did not side with my colleagues as well.
However, in consultation with my community leaders such as the community chiefs and the community municipal governments, with proper consultation with those people, that is where I did my voting so that, like I said, the decision that I come to or make some conclusion to, is not simply coming from myself but actually right from the community. Like I said, I do not really speak only on my personal beliefs, but I more or less rely solely on the community representations that I have been assigned to. With that, like I said earlier on, I was just hoping that since the aboriginal organization tried their best to appeal the structure of this whole Electoral Boundaries Commissions Report and mandate, but since that is not going to be likely, so I guess with the tour that we have made, we came out with a few recommendations and then the hope that since most of the territorial government seems to be agreeing with us, and I hope that most of our colleagues will be able to accept the recommendation as we present it to you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.