Please be seated. Good afternoon, Members. Welcome back to the Chamber. Welcome also to our distinguished guests and visitors who have joined us in the gallery today for the opening of the Fourth Session of the 15th Legislative Assembly. Colleagues, I trust that you are all eager to get down to business, so I won't ramble on too long.
First I would like to take an opportunity to acknowledge and thank, on behalf of all Members, individuals who have contributed to making the opening of the Fourth Session a remarkable one here today. In particular, I would like to thank the Honourable Tony Whitford, Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, for opening our session. Thank you very much, Commissioner.
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For those of you who are not aware, our esteemed Commissioner will be honoured along with 12 other residents of Rae-Edzo, Hay River, Fort Smith and Yellowknife for their community contributions in the ceremony of the Order of St. John this evening at 7:00 p.m. in the Great Hall. Mr. Whitford will be appointed as Vice Prior of the Order of St. John, which is approved by the sovereign head of the Order of St. John, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and by Her Excellency, the Governor General and Prior of the Most Venerable Order of St. John in Canada. I am sure you will all join me in offering our congratulations to his honour and the other deserving recipients.
A special thank you to the Mildred Hall Choir for singing O' Canada for us, the very talented Inuvialuit Drummers and Dancers, and our honourary chaplain today who lead us in prayer, Major Karen Hoeft of the Salvation Army. As everyone is aware, Major Hoeft and her family will soon be leaving the North to carry on their work in Winnipeg,
Manitoba. On behalf of all Members, I would like to wish Majors Karen and Al Hoeft best wishes for the future and thank you for all your good work you have done in the Northwest Territories.
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On a matter of House services, I am pleased to announce to all Members and to the residents of the Northwest Territories that we will be enhancing our language services in the Chamber this session.
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Each day we will provide interpretations in two of the official languages so that in each week every language will be available in this House and for rebroadcast to the people of the Northwest Territories on APTN. I am pleased to announce that our languages for today are French and North Slavey.
This week in the House, we will be served by Pages from St. Patrick High School in Yellowknife; Chief Julius School, Fort McPherson; Moose Kerr School, Aklavik; and ?ehtseo Ayha School in Deline. Good luck to all of you and I'm sure you will do a fine job for us.
I would like to take this opportunity to recognize some of our special guests with us in the gallery today: Honourable Justice Ted Richard of the Supreme Court of the NWT;
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His Worship Gordon Van Tighem, mayor of Yellowknife;
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NWT Chamber of Commerce president Steve Meister;
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the Honourable Ethel Blondin-Andrew;
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Lieutenant Scott Archer, Canadian Forces Northern Area Headquarters;
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Inspector Roch Fortin, officer in charge of Yellowknife RCMP detachment;
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Pastor Connie Landstrom;
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the Right Reverend J. R. Sperry;
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Ms. Katherine Peterson, Legislative Assembly Law Clerk;
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Major Al Hoeft of the Yellowknife Salvation Army;
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Consul General of France, Monsieur Jean-Yves Defay;
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Madam Marie Noelle Defay;
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and, Mr. Ted Hughes, Conflict of Interest Commissioner of the NWT.
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Welcome to the Legislative Assembly.
Colleagues, before we continue with the orders of the day, I would like to note that respect for each other and the House is something I know you will all continue to practice. Your constituents are better served by constructive and respectful debate.
Orders of the day, the honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.