Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when our people have animal hides they want tanned, they have a choice. They can either try to do it themselves or they can send the hide out of the Northwest Territories to be tanned. I have always felt that we should have an NWT-based tannery for our people. There are thousands of muskox in Sachs Harbour where Mr. Floyd Sydney sent the hide from. Where do they send their hides? They send their hides south.

There is a history in the North Slave where I come from where we have had tanning hides, tanneries, private tanneries and we have had training facilities where there no longer is training for tanning. We have had people like internationally known D'Arcy Moses who could use northern tanned hides for fashion creations. We have many aboriginal women in the North who are making garments with tanned hides such as Berna Beaulieu, Alice Sangris-Wifladt and Karen Wright-Fraser, to name a few. Would it not be economically sound to have a northern-based tannery? There are many cottage industry northern workers who could use the benefits of northern tanneries.

In the past, there have been concerns raised about the environment in using conventional tanning methods. However, it is good to know there are new environmentally friendly tanning processes developed. The demand for leather products is still there. The fashion industry uses leather for shoes, coats, belts, gloves and neck ties. There is also sheared fur. That is another trend gaining popularity in the North.

Mr. Speaker, we have prime examples in the Legislative Assembly of the use of tanned hides, such as the vest I am wearing and the jacket Mr. Krutko is wearing.

What we need in the North is a real plan for a tannery that can train and employ people in our communities. We have been concentrating on oil and gas and diamonds and we have been moving away from the traditional economic lifestyles that we have had in the past. I will have questions for the Minister later on this subject, Mr. Speaker.