Mr. Speaker, I talked to them about what it meant for me to look in the past when we say "restoring our families", because many of us come from homes where alcoholism and family violence and abuse has been present. There is a lot of pain if you look back for too long. The only way you can manage that is if you move into the last part of their theme, which is "rebuilding our future".

The only way you can live with yourself is if you do as these women have committed themselves to do day after day, year after year; work towards rebuilding, rebuilding our families and rebuilding our futures.

It was a good time and it was a healing time for myself to be present with all these people, which form 50 percent of the aboriginal population here in the Northwest Territories. Elder Katherine Mitchell from Inuvik came over and asked to sit with me and sat beside me for the entire evening. I wanted to acknowledge the incredible experience that I had on Friday night. That like our elders, women too look to people like myself and every Member of this Legislature to provide leadership and to carry their hopes and dreams for them because there is so much that we can do. Thank you very much. Mahsi.

-- Applause