Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this has been a very difficult motion to bring forward. As we all know, the Premier is well liked across the Northwest Territories and even on this side of the floor. But the support that I've been receiving personally and the e-mails that I've received have made this not easier, but it's something that I feel needs to be done.
Mr. Speaker, the subject of sexual abuse in the Northwest Territories is a sensitive subject. You mention sexual abuse and you touch a lot of nerves. I debated and I was concerned about bringing this motion forward. You think, well, does this bode well for your political future. Is it going to keep you on this side of the House? I look down this side, there's nothing wrong with that. Mr. Speaker, something that you see that you perceive to be wrong, something that you don't agree with, regardless of what happens to you, you have to speak up to it, otherwise I wouldn't be able to wake up in the morning and look in the mirror knowing I thought something was wrong and I did nothing. I think, Mr. Speaker, that's the worst way to be. So we have to show some courage here, because the courage that a lot of these people displayed in coming forth with their allegations and with their stories is something that we should take some comfort in and use that as a guide, and show half the courage that a lot of the survivors showed; and they are survivors, Mr. Speaker.
I had known very little about this. You hear rumours, you hear stories start coming out in the news and in the papers, and a lot of the survivors start coming forth. I feel that I owe a lot of kids that I went to school with a personal apology, because I went to school with them, I was side by side with them, I played on sports teams with them, and little did I know of the abuse that they were going through. I'm really glad that I've had the opportunity to listen to stories and hear of the abuse that was committed to a lot of these kids, because it's opened my eyes, Mr. Speaker, and I don't feel like I'm ignorant to the facts anymore. I like to think that I've educated myself.
That's why, Mr. Speaker, that I really felt that it was important to bring this motion forward. Mr. Handley has apologized for the remarks that he made, and I believe his apology to be sincere. I've said before it's not me he has to apologize to, because the apology should be towards the survivors. I know that this whole episode has bothered Mr. Handley. I know that for a fact. You take all that, you multiply it tenfold and that doesn't even come close to a what a lot of these survivors had to go through. So, Mr. Speaker, I do stand up here with a strong conviction that I feel like I have to do what I perceive to be the right thing. Accountability is not just a word that we can throw around in this Assembly like a cheap word, it's not. People expect us to be accountable for our actions and for our words, and I believe by bringing this motion forward we are holding the Premier accountable for his remarks, and we're holding ourselves accountable for what we believe to be doing the right thing, and I think we are doing the right thing.
This, Mr. Speaker, is not about us; it's not about me. It's about showing support to the survivors of residential school, and that should be our main focus here, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the support, I really do, that I've received.
It's amazing that the number of letters or e-mails that you get, and some want us to take a stronger stand, some accept the apology. Pretty well 100 percent of them want us to stand up here and show some accountability and hold the Premier accountable for those remarks. So, Mr. Speaker, hopefully with some courage here, I brought this motion forward and I would be quite interested and looking forward to my colleagues' remarks on this. I do appreciate the support that I've received. It's made what I've had to do a little easier to deal with, and it's made me feel like we are doing the right thing here.
Mr. Speaker, I say again this is not about us, this is about the survivors. I think if we have to stand here and show our support, and it's something many of us should have done years ago. We do it now. We'll do it and we'll do it holding our head up, because we want to be able to look in the mirror in the morning and not mind the reflection that's coming back to us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause