Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we all know, this is a very important part of the fabric of a family and the Northwest Territories. The fact of having a home that is safe and caring and have parents who love their children and their spouses enough to avoid any form of abuse. Mr. Speaker, I support the principle of this motion, that we stand up and we speak about the violence that happens in our homes and in the Northwest Territories, how it is not acceptable to have a husband beat on a wife and, in some cases, a wife beat on a husband. How it is unacceptable to abuse children, children who in my eyes were given to us as a gift from the good Lord above.
Mr. Speaker, I made a commitment to my wife that if there is not enough love there for me to stop me from being abusive, then there is not enough love in that home to be there. I think that is a serious commitment. If I am going to be there, I have to honour my wife. That is not just in speaking to it, that is in following through with actions so that my children can see how it is that a husband should behave to his wife.
-- Applause
Mr. Speaker, I have also come from the other side of the tracks. That is why I say I support this in principle. There are issues at times when we, as a society, start to measure other people and measure them in a sense of who is doing what and what is right and what is wrong. Now as a father, I discipline my children. When they have crossed the line that I and my wife have set, I will discipline them and they know I do it because I love them. If I did not love them, then I would walk away from anything they have done that might be wrong in the eyes of the law or the family. We must temper that. We cannot discipline our children in anger. That is inappropriate.
Mr. Speaker, we have to be careful as we set out the guidelines for the people of the Northwest Territories. We cannot make it so that parents' hands are tied if their children go beyond the guidelines that we set as a society that are acceptable or not. More importantly as parents, because it starts at the level of being a parent. I cannot look at my neighbour and judge them as to how they are raising their children if I am not doing the right things myself. So we must be careful when we go about things as a government in making declarations and so on.
In light of the government situation of the stats that have been presented to us as Members of the Legislative Assembly, it is good that we do something that will open up the doors to speak about the violence that happens in our communities, in our homes, to our loved ones, but we must move beyond that. We must go beyond that in the sense of as a government, are we putting the necessary resources in place to prevent more violence from occurring? If we do not have the necessary resources, are we spending the resources we have to date in the proper areas?
Mr. Speaker, it was once said by a previous Member of the 13th Assembly: "A campaign without dollars is no more than just a slogan." We need to go beyond that as Members of the 14th Assembly. I need to know as I stand up here that what I am saying today, I will not turn around tomorrow and go back home and make like I never even said things that were important to me in raising my family.
So I agree with this motion and I support it but I also caution all of us that we must first look inward. That goes to all leaders in the Northwest Territories. If we are going to lead by example, we must look inward before we look outward. I must be able to look at myself in the mirror every morning and know that what I am doing is right as a father, as a husband and as a friend before I can look at anybody else and call them any other way. I think we have to start with ourselves.
I start with myself in my home and by that set the example for my children when they grow up. I thank my parents for the standards they set and how they lived their lives, because as I watched them grow together and teach us as children, they set the examples for me to live by and that is so important.
I urge Members to lead by example. I urge every council out there to lead by example. More than that, I urge our government to ensure that the funds we have in place are being applied correctly. If we do not have enough funds, we better start digging to find more. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause