Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to announce today that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has completed a project that I feel will be of interest not only to Northerners but to people around the world.

Mr. Speaker, through a web site, the Idaa Trail project will allow visitors from around the world to "virtually travel" one of three traditional NWT trails. More importantly, it will serve as an invaluable learning tool for our northern youth. It will lead visitors on a voyage of discovery about the history and culture of the NWT.

The Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, working with Dogrib elders and the Dogrib Educational Council, created the Idaa heritage resource project over a three-year period. Research concentrated on the traditional birch bark canoe trail that linked Great Slave Lake and Great Bear Lake. The result is a web site entitled The Idaa Trail.

As visitors travel along the trail on a map, traditional knowledge items, place names and stories of the elders may be highlighted, heard and visited. Video clips of the people and area as it once existed may be viewed. The visitor may then continue their web site journey to the next point on the trail. This is a significant step in the sharing of our history.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that we will be launching this web site, the Idaa Trail, with the Edzo elders and school children from the Chief Jimmy Bruneau School in the next several weeks. We encourage those who can join us to be there as we launch the first virtual trip down this historic trail. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause