Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Tlicho people have invested years of work and literally millions of dollars of their own money to get to where we are today. They have, on their own free will, chosen to be partners with us; partners in a public government. They could have gone exclusively aboriginal, but they chose not to. It's a choice that I think all of us should celebrate. It's an offer that we cannot refuse.
Today, every day for the next few months, the next few years we have to be conscious that we're working with partners and the Tlicho are one of our strongest partners, economically and politically. They are also partners with the Gwich'in, with the Sahtu, with the Deh Cho, with the Akaitcho and the Gwich'in people, with the Metis. They have chosen to work with us on the very same agenda that we're trying to advance, whether it's diamonds, pipeline, oil and gas, devolution or revenue sharing. These are the people that we are partnering with to advance our agendas, and we need them to continue the work that we've started.
Some of us are not as well briefed or haven't taken the time to try to understand the issues of aboriginal people, and some of us haven't taken the time to read the documents that are in front of us, the offers that are made to inform us. We have an obligation as MLAs to be well informed and to make sure that our constituents are informed as well.
I also want to remind Members that every major aboriginal initiative that has come here to this legislature has always been met in the same way. Some were supported, some of us don't know, some of us are afraid and not quite sure what it means. All of us share one need. We need to know what this government, this territory, is going to look at like in two years and in 10 years. That is something singularly lacking with all of us. Some of us think we know. Some of us admit we don't know. It's a need. Unless we develop them, unless we are able to tell our people this government is going to change, there are emerging regional governments, there are aboriginal governments, there are aboriginal people negotiating their rights as part of this aboriginal government and here's how it has changed to date and here's where we are going, people are going to be afraid. People are going to ask for time. People are going to be cautious. So the leadership that we should provide and need to provide can start right here. We can't stop what is going on. Too much has passed away.
The Inuvialuit people, over the objections of this legislature, in fact ignored the Territorial Council of the day when it went ahead and was ratified and implemented. The Gwich'in claim went and there was some caution and concern, but it went ahead and so did the Sahtu claim.
Now the Tlicho claim is in front to us. The Deh Cho process is a process that embraces public government as well. There are a lot of difficult issues to face there, but it's a process that I welcome because they choose to find a way to be part of this government. We have to believe that people out there who want to be governed are saying it's going to be even better. We in this House are part of what goes on in the communities. We have to reflect the will and the aspirations of people out there. Sometimes we do have to take a leap of faith.
We have lawyers and we get advice, we pass legislation all the time. We are not quite sure of what it all means, but we go on the faith of what we are advised. I know that everything is tied together; devolution, revenue sharing, self-government, the Tlicho agreement. People out there are watching us and wondering how we are going to treat it. I have to say I believe that we are going to do it right. This piece of legislation here is one that's gives effect, so it has already been agreed to by the Tlicho, by the Government of Canada and this government. So we do hope that the Members will recognize that people are waiting for us. We are asking the Aboriginal Summit to advance significant issues that are of great concern to revenue sharing, devolution. We are asking them to take a leap of faith. Although we don't know the answers, we don't know the specifics, we are asking to partner with us and take a leap of faith. That's the challenge.
We can't afford to slow things down because we don't know. We can take a reasonable amount of time to inform ourselves and make that judgment. It's a political judgment that may be called on for some of us and I, for one, have no difficulty at all to support and I wish to deal with this as quickly as we can. Thank you.