Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As our colleague, the Honourable Jane Groenewegen, has just made a statement about, this is Seniors' Week in the Northwest Territories. It marks an occasion when we can come together to celebrate the involvement and the influence that our seniors and our elders continue to have in our society. It is a time when we can come together as Northerners and legislators and make sure we are doing the best we can for seniors.

Among the many programs this government already provides, Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased that we provide the resources and funds for seniors to help themselves through groups and associations like the Northwest Territories Seniors' Society. I think this is perhaps the best kind of help we can provide, for seniors have made it abundantly clear that they are more than capable of helping themselves.

We need to recognize, Mr. Speaker, that in the past decade, the Northwest Territories population of people over 50 years of age has increased by some 60 percent. It is the fastest growing part of our society. Are we preparing our health and social systems to be ready for this increase? Do we in this Assembly understand that we are, as my colleague Mr. Miltenberger pointed out, the junior elders of tomorrow? That we will have to live with the plans we make today?

This is a week when we can all come together to celebrate the achievements of our parents and grandparents, neighbours and community friends who have had a hand in shaping this community, this North, and our lives over the years and the decades.

On a personal note, Mr. Speaker, it is a rare privilege for me to stand here today and acknowledge the honour bestowed by her peers on one of those amazing people, my mother Esther, recipient of this year's Respected Elder Award for the Northwest Territories.

We heard at lunch of her many contributions to friends and community here in Yellowknife, across the Northwest Territories, and nationally. She is a leader, a pioneer and a role model for her five children and eight grandchildren. She is the strongest and the wisest woman I know. From my family, Mom, we love you, we cherish you, and we are so proud of everything you have done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause