Thank you, Mr. Chair. I hadn’t really planned on saying too much, because I’d spoken to the apology during my Member’s statement. But listening to David and Kevin speak, I was thinking about…. Since the apology, I’ve been reading articles in the newspaper. One in particular that caught my attention was an article in the Edmonton

Sun. It wasn’t the actual article that caught my attention; it was some of the letters to the editor. I couldn’t believe the ignorance of some people, yet, in this country, making comments toward the aboriginals and the apology and the compensation and what they went through. I could not believe how ignorant some people still are as to the plight of aboriginals.

Most aboriginals didn’t want to go to residential school. They didn’t ask to be taken from their homes. They didn’t ask to be beaten when they spoke their language. They didn’t ask for all of this. So that ignorance shouldn’t be directed toward the aboriginals. That ignorance should be directed to the people who did that to the aboriginals. But no, it’s not, and that’s what really upset me.

I’ve seen a few letters to the editor in a couple of the papers, and I honestly, to this day, could not believe how ignorant some people in this country still are. I hope there is none of that sentiment here in the Northwest Territories. I really hope that, because, like I said before, we didn’t wish this on ourselves. A lot of the old-timers were threatened. They had to send their kids to school; otherwise, they’d go to jail. They did whatever they could.

I think this whole experience, if I can call it that…. I was one of the fortunate few, as I said in my Member’s statement; I only spent a few months. But I’ve been hearing stories from a lot of the Members. I know a lot of people who have been in hostel for, basically, their whole lives. I think this is a real testament to the fact that, as hard as they tried…. They bent and they bent and they bent the aboriginal people, but they didn’t break them. It’s not going to happen again, Mr. Chair.