Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, will try to avoid repeating myself and the remarks, the very well crafted and well said remarks of my colleagues that I will agree with. My position is clear on the difficulty I have with this bill. That is that the opportunity that the people of the Northwest Territories have come to expect and deserve, to be able to look and criticize and potentially amend our laws has been denied in this process. It has gone against some of the fundamental values that we've tried to adhere to in this Assembly, values like being inclusive and governing our affairs with some abeyance to the principles of consensus. These things are at the core of our values in the Assembly and admittedly and undeniably, we are denying people those values in this process.
Along with a number of my colleagues, I have tried to bring focus and significance to the responsibility we have in this institution to be consistent, to make sure that there are at least some stages in the way we govern that people can rely on. When we change our mind and change the direction and change the process by which we make these laws, I think we diminish our confidence, our trust and our credibility. You can't peel too many more layers off of our purpose for being here, Mr. Chairman. If we don't have the trust and the integrity, then we really don't have anything. I don't want to say where this layers the case, where we are putting it all on the line. It's not an emergency or a make or break degree, but we need to be very careful every time we say we can do something differently. Especially after the fact in this case, Mr. Speaker. We have taken some people by surprise and denied them an opportunity that they might have had earlier in the process.
In my objections, in my arguments, in my discussions with a lot of people, and my colleagues have said, we have been tremendously, vigorously lobbied on this one. I believe I have got a couple of things out on the table. One of them, in a discussion with some aboriginal leaders, with the Minister this afternoon, is an acknowledgment and an understanding, at least on my part, that because these laws - and there are going to be more of them - are created in a different process we are used to, then we need to look at our approval process as well. That is something that the next Assembly has to look at pretty early and look at very seriously. We are going to see the same kind of challenge again.
Mr. Chairman, I have also secured a confirmation from Chief Joe Rabesca that one of the first things I hope to do if I am returned as the Member for Great Slave is to invite Grand Chief Joe and his people into my constituency to meet face to face with my constituents and explore the consequences of this bill and what I know are the benefits and at least take up some of what I think has been denied to the people of the NWT. I have not asked Mr. Antoine for that same commitment. He will not, of course, be returning to this Assembly, but it is something that I want to engage in with the next Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and take that back to my constituents as something I hope I can be held accountable for, that I have tried to deliver on this fundamental process that we have, unfortunately and very regrettably, Mr. Chairman, been compelled to forego.
I am going then to give qualified support to the third reading of this bill, Mr. Chairman. If I have heard my colleagues correctly, it seems that that will be a unanimous decision from this Assembly, from what I have heard so far. I believe that voice on that side is going to be a progressive one and that the qualification that I attach to it will help us see our way through this very new and very bold new step we will be taking in the development of the new Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
---Applause