Mr. Speaker, the witness.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In answer to the Member's concerns, that there is no responsibility for students that come here. The school assigns the student, picks the student based on the selection criteria of the school. They must be good students, able to be away from school for that period of time because it does take in half of each day. The parents must complete and sign the appropriate forms. They must give that release, a medical release must also be assigned and the Legislative Assembly must be aware of any medical condition of the student and social insurance numbers and stuff, like technical data. But the Yellowknife Members, each of the ridings in Yellowknife, are not responsible for that, it is strictly a school selection and recommendations.

Mr. Nitah.

Question to the Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member is correct in some parts of his comments here. The students that are serving as Pages here from across the Territories are examples to the rest of Canada. They are the youngest Pages, probably, in the Commonwealth if I dare go far so far as to say that. They are truly an example, a good example and truly they do aspire to other things. I think that the Member would be very, very proud of his students if he were to take responsibility and bring them in. Already, we have had five different Members bringing in students under the criteria that we've used. The board has gone a long way already to meet Members requirements for Pages and it is a system that I am very proud to support, but I don't think that the Members would want this Legislative Assembly to become ultimately responsible for babysitting students. The Members themselves, should take on that responsibility and be proud of getting their kids in here, and I think the community would applaud the Member for taking that kind of responsibility, and parents would feel secure in letting them stay with the Member, rather than in a hotel somewhere under the supervision of the Speaker or his staff.

Mr. Nitah.

Mr. Nitah, your time is up. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am afraid I can't comment too much on the honourable Member's concerns. If he wishes, he may take those concerns to the Board of Management and thee board will review the suggestions. The board and the Speaker certainly feel that we have a good program, and we'd like to continue this. If there are ways of improving it, we'd be glad to do that. But there are certain liabilities, there are certain responsibilities I'm sure that the honourable Members will agree that we cannot take on and should not take on. I'll leave it to the honourable Members to make that decision.

General comments. Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just have two short questions on the opening comments, particularly on page 3 where it references, "we will see a reflection of our cultural diversity through the uniform the Pages will be wearing." Mr. Chairman, I'm sure the Speaker and his staff are well aware of the cultural diversity in the Northwest Territories, and I would like to ask if all the cultures will be reflected in these uniforms.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Whitford.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think over the years we've seen various changes in the uniforms from the Pages. We've tried at different times to reflect what is now two territories -- Nunavut and the Northwest Territories -- and some of the uniforms the honourable Member will remember, there were sealskins with beads, and there were vests. We've tasked a group of northern artists to come up with ideas, and come up with a design for reflecting the northern cultures. Ms. Marie is well-known, as is Darcy Moses and Ms. Fraser, and the Members will, I think, be pleased when they do see them. I'm not able to show you at the moment or describe what they are at the moment, but I think that the selection will meet with the approval of the members.

Mr. Steen.

Mr. Chairman, I'm glad to hear that. I know that the three artists who are mentioned are extremely proficient in their profession. However, I'm wondering if there was any effort made to obtain artists with an Inuvialuit background, so that the uniforms reflecting Inuvialuit culture would be designed by Inuvialuit artists.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Whitford.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The uniforms are part of what we would like to see the Legislative Assembly reflect eventually. There was a request for proposals sent out, and the three people involved here were the ones who submitted to the team the best proposal, and those are the ones who they selected. A lot of people had an opportunity to put forward proposals, and those were the ones we thought were the best and we went with. I'm hoping that when we do see the end result that they will reflect the Inuvialuit culture, as they would the Sahtu or the Metis or the Dogrib or the Gwich'in, and we could go on. I don't know if we can cover everything, but we certainly will give it a try.

Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I'm sure that the Assembly Board of Management probably took into consideration the fact that the best reflection of culture is through the artists, to actually have an artist who has a background in that particular culture. I'm not suggesting that the three here are not familiar with the Inuvialuit culture, but at the same time I would have liked some assurance that the Inuvialuit artists were given opportunity to respond request for proposals, or tenders, whatever the Assembly put out.

Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again I'm not sure how we could guarantee each member equality in reflection of the particular culture. But when we did put the request for proposals out, people of the North, from Thebacha to Nunakput, had an opportunity to submit proposals. I don't recall whether or not we got any from that area. We had to move on and we did, and I'm sure that the artists will endeavour to reflect the true North in their work. We also have, and will have in the next little while here, people speaking to Members about what they would like to see in the Assembly. I, for one, would like to see some plan come up that will capture the whole of the North in a very few square feet within this building, of different areas or different regions and different traditions, and capture the spirit of the North. I think we've done a magnificent job already -- we try hard -- and I think that each member should be looking forward to speaking to that group that are tasked to come up with a plan for the cultural enhancement of the building.

General comments. Mr. Steen.