Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I do not have a long statement to make except to say how happy I am to see us having reached this far in this legislation. As we are well aware this was a bill that was introduced as the first item of this Assembly and it has gone through some rough spots. I know that it has also gone through a lot of consultations, not only the one conducted by the Department of Justice staff but also we should remember the work of Sue Heron-Herbert who took the responsibility of consulting with communities before the bill actually was introduced or it got to the committee stage.

I also understand that the committee has done its hearings as well. I am aware there are some who feel that some of the items they wanted included were not included in this, but I know that this is a good piece of legislation. It is something that is a long time in the making. I know that when I was at law school not too far back that was when I learned that we actually did not have human rights legislation in the Northwest Territories and that we were one of very few.

The last attempt to do this 20 years ago was not successful. While I acknowledge that there are probably some shortfalls and I suppose we cannot have legislation that meets the approval of everyone, to everyone's satisfaction, I do not believe that takes away from the fact that this is a very important bill. This is probably one of the most important things that we are going to accomplish in this House and what the Minister's opening remark says about the fact that discrimination against people on any number of grounds is very much a part of our lives. We should never take it for granted. It happens.

Even though there is a law and lots of other things that keeps reminding every one of us, and not just in this House, but we as citizens that discrimination is not okay, discrimination does happen, sometimes without us even knowing about it. We all have our own backgrounds and biases and our beliefs and it is not easy sometimes to know that some of the things that we take for granted might be seen as something that is discriminatory in other people's lives.

This will provide a protection in situations of employment and commercial relations in renting places. We hate to admit it but in our society discrimination of all sorts happen and I am very proud to be a part of a Legislature and the history of the Northwest Territories that I am here now and that this bill is before us and that I will be part of the team that will have done our people a great service by deliberating, considering, introducing and enacting, hopefully, a Human Rights Act for all the people of the Territories.

That is just a general statement that I wanted to add to this debate on the bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.