Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in April the Northwest Territories will welcome 300 delegates and chaperones from across Canada to the Interchange on Canadian Studies/Echange sur les etudes canadiennes conference. The interchange is an annual conference that gives high school students a chance to meet, listen to prominent speakers and share ideas and experiences significant to Canada and Canadians.
The delegates are grade 11 students who will be learning about our homes, the NWT, and how our lives and our lands are changed by major events like industrial development and the evolution of aboriginal self-government. Changing Land Changing Peoples/Monde en changement is the theme of the conference.
Mr. Speaker, the conference is being hosted by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and Nunavut's Department of Education, with support from the Dogrib Community Services Board, Yellowknife Education District No. 1 and Yellowknife Catholic schools.
Students from outside Yellowknife will be billeted with local families. This particular interchange is unique because some Yellowknife families will be hosting both a northern and a southern student. The students who stay together share in the week-long academic and social activities. Next summer the student who hosted a Yellowknife visitor will complete the exchange by travelling to the visitor's home for a one-week stay.
Mr. Speaker, the list of speakers confirmed for the interchange conference is impressive. Dr. David Suzuki will deliver the keynote address to open the conference. Dr. Suzuki and speakers from northern and southern Canada will work with workshop leaders to help delegates understand and learn to question some of the big picture issues we deal with daily. Issues up for discussion include promoting and protecting language and culture, the importance of the environment, strengthening the economy, globalization and upholding the rights of indigenous people.
Our Premier, Stephen Kakfwi, will join Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik in the conference's closing address.
Mr. Speaker, the interchange is a unique opportunity for students from the North to connect with their peers from southern Canada and promote an understanding of and appreciation for the regions and people of Canada. I am certain delegates will leave the NWT with a deeper understanding and greater appreciation of the NWT and Canada. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause