Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Sadly two of the northern veterans that were in the liberation of Holland passed away this year; Mr. Mel Brown and Mr. Eugene Mercredi from Fort Smith. Both were in the campaign that was first in the Netherlands. It is condolences that we remember at this time of year on behalf of those northern people that were there at the time. No further Members' statements. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Kakfwi.

Mr. Speaker, I wish once again to recognize my uncle, Jonas Kakfwi, who is sitting with us in the gallery visiting from Fort Good Hope.

-- Applause

Thank you. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to recognize Major Karen Hoeft, who has been with us quite a bit. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know I can count on your charity this afternoon as I introduce a number of people with the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce. The second vice-president, Karen Poitras from NorthwesTel; the past president of the Chamber, John Ondrack, with Kirk Computer Systems, and a number of other people, Mr. Speaker. I think most of them are with us. These are directors of the Chamber: Steve Meister of Ardicom Digital Communications; Trent Fequet, of Ninety North Construction; Amy Hacala, Media Works Communications; Paul Christopher, with the Bank of Montreal; and Tim Gawne, of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Mr. Speaker; and David Connelly, of lle Royale Enterprises; and last, but certainly not least, Mr. Dale Thomson, the executive director of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone who is here today to watch the Legislative Assembly. Welcome to your Assembly.

Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated in my Member's statement, we as Canadians need to speak out loudly and voice our opposition to child pornography and sexual exploitation of our children. The current law regarding the age of consent provides no protection for children 14 years and older from predatory adults. I am going to direct my question to the Minister of Justice. Would the Minister please indicate to this House what the current age of consent law is in the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Justice, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a very sensitive question and is very important to the people of the Northwest Territories. Protecting our children from sexual exploitation of any kind is very important to this government, as well as it is to all citizens of the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to advise the Member that, under the Criminal Code of Canada, which is a federal act, it defines the age of consent, in most cases, the age is 14, but it is 18 years of age for offences involving the exploitation of a child. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister please state what our current laws in the NWT are with respect to the possession of child pornography? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Justice, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since it is a very legalistic question, I am going to reply in a formal response. The Criminal Code of Canada creates offences for possessing child pornography. In doing this, the federal government made it criminal to have material that causes harm to children, but not all descriptions or pictures of naked children are pornography, as anyone would know who photographs their children having fun in the bath. It includes those that are sexually explicit and can be expected to cause harm to children. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that it is legal to possess child pornography as long as it is not mass-distributed. In addition, there is a court case pending about whether pornography should be judged on its artistic merit, and therefore, the person possessing it would be resolved from prosecution. This is deeply disturbing to a number of people, myself included. Would the Minister please state whether our justice system in the Northwest Territories is bound by these positions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Justice, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a rather lengthy answer to the question, but if I may proceed, the Supreme Court of Canada is Canada's highest court of decision. Its decisions are binding on all courts and governments across Canada.

Mr. Speaker, when my colleague speaks of a recent Supreme Court of Canada case on child pornography, I believe Mr. Delorey is referring to the decision of the Crown against Sharpe. Contrary to what Mr. Delorey has said, in 2001, the Supreme Court did not make it legal to possess child pornography. The court upheld the law that prohibits the possession of child pornography, with two specific exceptions. The first exception is written materials or visual representations created and held by the accused alone for his or her personal use. The second exception is visual recordings created by the accused that do not include unlawful sexual activity and are held by the accused for his or her private use. The court found that there was no reasonable risk to children in these materials.

The Criminal Code creates two defences for an accused who is charged with offences of child pornography. One is the defence of artistic merit, or where the material serves an educational, scientific, or medical purpose. I am not aware of the case that Mr. Delorey suggests is now before the court. He may be thinking of Mr. Sharpe's case, which was sent back to the B.C. trial court. That trial ended in March, 2002, and Sharpe was convicted for possession of sexually explicit photographs of children, but acquitted of the charges related to his writings on the basis that they demonstrated artistic merit.

Since that decision, jurisdictions have asked the federal government to eliminate the defence of artistic merit from the Criminal Code. The Department of Justice has been monitoring the work that has been done to fix this problem. This has been done very carefully, because we do not want to have a new law, which a court might see as unreasonably violating the rights and freedoms of expression.

I expect the Minister of Justice to be updating me on the progress that has been made, and alternatives which would eliminate the defence. I would be pleased to report back to the Members of this Legislature about this after next week's meeting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Before we continue, I would just like to remind Members that questions should be short and to the point; responses should not be extremely lengthy. I realize it is a sensitive and very important question. However, it may be better as a written question in such cases to allow other Members opportunity to use question period for what it is. Final supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, does the Minister intend to direct his department to lobby the federal government to have the law changed with respect to the age of consent for sexual activity? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Justice, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With all due respect, I do have to give a fairly lengthy answer to try to confirm the legal aspect of the question, but I will just advise the Member that I am continually working with my colleagues from both the federal and other provincial jurisdictions that this question will be answered, and I will respond back to the Member, probably under a written statement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.