Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too am pleased to stand in support of this very valuable resolution of this Assembly. I would like to address specifically Clause 4 in the resolution: Whereas family violence will continue to affect our northern society, Mr. Speaker, as long as people continue to tolerate or ignore its occurrence. Breaking the silence, as colleagues have already said, is very much a part of making a difference and turning the corner on violence in our society. This Assembly can do much to alleviate that.

We can dedicate resources of time and people. We can create strategies and studies. We can put all sorts of things in place, but until people recognize and acknowledge what is going on around us in our communities and our workplaces, the resources we put in place are probably not going to get much value. So I would urge that leaders in every other venue of our society, Mr. Speaker, also consider the responsibility that they have to break the silence.

I would hope that we would hear discussion and awareness in places like the municipal forums and among associations of government, professional organizations, chambers of commerce, industry. This is where we will really begin to see how we can make a difference by demonstrating leadership. I hope that every other leader in the Northwest Territories will listen and look at what we are doing here today and follow our example. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too support this motion, but reluctantly. I know the motion may sound good but at the end of the day, what is it really going to do? I for one feel that we have to make amendments to this motion to include commitments by this government financially and also achieving goals. When we talk about zero tolerance, how many people are we talking about taking off that list of people being violated with regard to violence and also in regard to effects on our communities?

Mr. Speaker, I for one feel that we have to do more than just make statements. We have to be able to have the resources and have the people in place to assist in the communities, but also give the communities and the people in our communities the tools to do the job and deal with the issues themselves. We have a just system that has to be reviewed. We have legislation in place that could be improved, especially when it comes to enforcement of different court order and what not that may be in place, especially when there are women to ensure they are protected and that they do have some space to deal with their problems.

I also feel it is important as a Legislature, we have the ability to improve our laws and improve the legislation that we have in place to avoid the biggest impact we have when it comes to violence, which is the effects of alcohol abuse in many of our communities. Right now, we have legislation in place that requires 60 percent approval of passing plebiscites in our communities so that the communities can deal with alcohol effects on our communities. So we can find some control mechanisms to restrict the flow of alcohol in our communities where a large portion of these wild crimes against families and women take place because they are alcohol related.

Yet as a government, we have those abilities to do that and we can do that today or tomorrow. Yet in order to make these statements and carry them through, we as a government also have to be able to have the foresight to make some changes to the way we do things. We cannot continue to establish mechanisms, cut programs and services in the areas that we know will impact communities and bring down the levels of support we have in our communities. We used to have four alcohol and drug centres in the Northwest Territories. We are down to one. I think that as a government, we have to do more to deal with this issue in the context of a family.

Violence has been around for a long, long time. I think people have to realize that it is not going to be resolved overnight but I think people have to be educated that it is not called for and there is no need to have violence in our communities, in the work place, or on our streets. We see it every day. Yet, Mr. Speaker, we continue to walk by, close a blind eye when we see violence being created on our streets or see people violated where we see someone walking down the street with black eyes, with bruises, knowing that they were violated yet nothing is being done.

So I would like to close, Mr. Speaker, by stating that I for one feel we have to do more in regard to this motion by stipulating some strong conditions and establish some goals that we as a government want to achieve. We did that with the Education Act in regard to FAS in our schools. I think we can do that with this motion on a similar basis. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to speak in support of this motion. I think that before I go on, I would like to just say that I am speaking... whatever I say for the next few minutes is in honour of all the victims out there in our territory who have been a victim of any type of family violence. I think that definition is very large. Mr. Speaker, I would also speak in appreciation of the women out there, in particular those who have worked really hard to bring this kind of motion in this House, namely the Council for the Status of Women. I know there are people who are working on this cause. As well, I would just like to thank the Minister and the Member for Frame Lake for pursuing this and bringing it again into the House.

Mr. Speaker, I have already stated in this House on this issue and I think that it is very important to know that there have not been that many motions that have been passed by this House in the last year. I think of a motion in support of the pipeline project. We passed a motion in support of the Human Rights Act and, most recently, I recall a motion to support the Public Service Commission. I must say that we should be proud that we are passing, or we are discussing and hopefully passing, a motion where we started with Human Rights Act and giving importance and urgency to the issue of family violence.

Mr. Speaker, I have stated earlier that I think it is very important and it should not be underestimated, the power of the elected leaders and leaders of our community to speak up and say that any type of family violence or violence against another human being is not acceptable and that it will not be tolerated and that the people with the power and the medium to speak out and say so.

Mr. Speaker, I do believe that the government has a role to play in making resources available to deal with some of the related issues pertaining to violence, such as addiction abuse, people who need counselling and all sorts of other areas that other Members have spoken of. I think there could also be an argument...not an argument, but another side of that is that it could be stated that some of those conditions are as a result of family violence in the house where children are growing up.

I believe that physical abuse of a person is sometimes not as serious as the mental abuse that takes place when one is subjected to violence. It goes right at the heart of one's sense of self and right at the heart of one's sense of integrity and self-esteem. The result is that the person is permanently damaged and less able to go out into the world and function as a whole being.

I am not sure if the intervention of the government is all there is. I think that as the Member for Inuvik Boot Lake has stated, the role of father and mother and the parents in the family is important. I think the role of political leaders and community leaders is important and we cannot say enough as a group that we will not tolerate this.

One message that I want to leave in honour of the victims is that I have been close to family violence and directly affected by that. What I want to tell to the people out there who are suffering from it especially is do not be a victim of that permanently. Although it is hard, you can overcome it. Whoever abused you in any way, mentally or physically, sexually, do not let that person be a second winner in making you permanently damaged so that you cannot be the best that you can be. If you are abused and your personal integrity is violated, it is true that it will be harder for you to become the best that you can to the fullest extent you can be but it is not impossible. Go out and seek help and know always that people in this Assembly and people who are there to speak for you and they will do everything they can to help you. Do not let that be the impediment permanently preventing you from becoming all that you can be because every person in this territory and in our communities has a place. You deserve not to be violated or abused.

Mr. Speaker, with that, I just want to say once again that I support this motion whole-heartedly and that I am proud to be part of the Assembly that is saying it and publicly declaring it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, noting the time, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that this House sits beyond 2:00 p.m. to continue consideration of Motion 9-14(3). Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak in favour of this motion. The majority of my comments stand in my Member's statement today. I just want to reiterate the critical need for us as Legislators to not only raise the profile and break the silence but use the power and authority we have and the resources we have to do some concrete improvements in dealing with family violence. We have spent millions of dollars over the last decade or so on this issue. It is still a significant problem. So very clearly we have to look not only at new money, but how can we better use the funds that we have. This is a very, very important issue that affects all of our constituencies and all the people in our constituencies. So I would hope that in addition to the fine sentiment, the Cabinet, the government and the many departments will start actually working together and take a critical look at how to be more effective with the resources we have, at the same time as we look, as my colleague from Boot Lake said, for new additional resources. So I fully support this motion, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, like my colleagues, rise today to speak in favour of this motion. It obviously is very important to heighten awareness in this area. We talked about breaking the silence. If we continue to sweep family violence under the rug, it will continue to fester and be a problem, as it has been for many years. It will continue on for many years, but I think it is important, as many of my colleagues have stated here today, that we pay this more than lip service and this becomes more than just empty, hollow words.

In 1993, we had a zero tolerance declaration and we watched violent crimes rise in the Northwest Territories, even though in the rest of Canada, Mr. Speaker, they are on the decline. So I think if we want to send the message to children that they seek out an adult or a peer and discuss family violence in their lives or if we want to say to mothers that they should seek help and leave abusive relationships, we have to do more, Mr. Speaker, than just make hollow promises and embark on rhetoric.

I think we have to take a good hard look at the programs this government delivers. What are we really saying if we are asking women to leave abusive relationships when we know that single mothers with children often live below the poverty line and often have a difficult time accessing resources, Mr. Speaker? What are we saying to children when we ask them to report family violence and then there are no resources for them and no support for children who talk about family violence?

Mr. Speaker, we have heard that there is no new money. I think that is something that everybody in this House can accept. However, I think it has to be about priority setting. It is fine and dandy to talk about economic development and what we are going to do in various different industries: oil and gas, mining, but we simply cannot forget about family violence. We are going to have to dedicate some of our dollars to solving this problem, Mr. Speaker. It should be of the highest priority. I do not think we can say on one hand we are dedicated to making the elimination of family violence a priority and yet on the other hand be closing treatment centres, as Mr. Krutko has said.

We have high unemployment or low paying jobs. We have a lack of shelters for people who are abused, Mr. Speaker. We simply are going to have to do more if we really are going to do anything to combat this problem.

So like my colleagues, I want to speak in favour of it. I think it is important to heighten awareness, but heightened awareness without resources and without dedication to this problem simply are not going to get the job done, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to also speak in favour of this motion. As most of my colleagues have already stated, the number of factors that come into play in the context of this motion, whereby this government has to make a commitment to put more resources towards addressing the issues that are involved in family violence. As an individual that has come from a very large family, I feel very fortunate and very rich as a human being to be able to sit here and say I can recall at no time that family violence has had any impact on my life.

I will say that I did experience some of it in families that were very close to us and it was extremely hard to deal with that. Even when family members wanted to be open about it and break the silence, it was very restrictive and a very dangerous situation for them to do it in. I know that is a hard area to address, but it is something we have to do.

One of the things I think we cannot forget is to support and mention the people and the organizations that are doing a lot right now, today, to address family violence. This motion is not new. We have had motions like this before and there are individuals and organizations out there that are trying to do a lot to break the cycle in family violence. I think we have to support that and acknowledge the fact that there are groups out there that should not give up and work harder and know that we are supporting them in their efforts.

We also have to look at the laws that control family violence and how they are hampered in trying to get into situations, knowing situations of family violence. In a lot of cases, their hands are tied as well as to what they can do to deal with that situation. So a lot of the laws we have will have to be looked at. As a person, I have no problem standing here and saying I fully support zero tolerance in family violence. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Mr. Speaker, I too am proud and pleased to support this motion. Zero tolerance is an achievable goal. In spite of all the good work that is being done by others, including the Status of Women, the Women's shelters and so on. This goal of zero tolerance will only be realized if all of us as leaders, and I include us, municipal leaders, aboriginal leaders, private sector leaders, if we all lead by example. Our commitment cannot end with comments here today. We cannot stop here. There has to be consequences to violating our commitment, and we need to be public and we need to be clear about what those consequences are. There are no excuses for violence. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is an important and significant motion. It is one that is an important step in the right direction to ensure that we tackle this very important issue that is so prevalent here in our Territory. Family violence is not acceptable, neither is violence of any sort, Mr. Speaker. Violence of any sort is not acceptable. We need to all pay attention to this very important subject.

As leaders, we have a role to play, as all leaders in the Territory have a role to play. It is my belief that we can make a difference in this if we continue to discuss this, to speak about it, and wherever possible to pass the message to others that the issue of violence against other people is not acceptable.

We can make improvements in this whole area, and it is my firm belief that if we all set our minds to it, it can be achieved and we can make significant progress in this area.

I am very appreciative of the Northwest Territories Status of Women, who I know have been working on this for years, have dedicated a lot of time and a lot of effort on their part to it. We have with us today Vi Beck, Rosemary Cairns and Theresa Handley, who just stepped out for a moment. I am very appreciative of the work that they have done.

I personally have worked a bit with the council over the past few years, not in the past year, but previous to that and was able to at least learn of their work in this area that has been so significant to bring attention to this area. I want to also thank the Minister for this important motion today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.