Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the Members for their comments on this. It was indeed a day in the history of Canada to be remembered. The fact that the Prime Minister of Canada — a present-day Prime Minister — apologized on behalf of the people of Canada for the actions of a government in a direction and a policy of assimilation…. I believe that apology to be a sincere one for aboriginal people across the territory and the country of Canada. We as the Government of the Northwest Territories felt we needed to recognize that.

As we’ve heard Members say, there are still a lot of things that people are going through in the Northwest Territories around this matter. It comes up in many discussions yet, and I’m sure it will continue for some time. But it has now opened the door, as some Members have pointed out, to a healing process that can proceed. There are many

people who would move ahead in life but hit a certain point and seem to almost collapse or fall into an old pattern. I see that in the lives of individuals — in many of us who did go to a residential school and saw a different side of life and longed to be home.

I was one of the fortunate who only spent a couple of years in a residential school. But as Mr. Krutko said, there are some who spent their whole educational life, from kindergarten to graduation, and some even longer, in facilities away from home. We, of a younger generation, didn’t experience the level of difficulty — putting it that kindly — that some of our elders had gone through in the first days of the residential school and the standards that were in place at that point.

It was something we felt we needed to recognize. Indeed, to see the importance — when we’re in a facility or an Assembly like this — to see what happened, and to see our national aboriginal leaders as part of the ceremony, as part of the parliamentary session and sitting there formally as a part of that…. It is a rare occurrence that non-parliamentarians would take part in a process that involves the House.

Mr. Chairman, it is for us a day to remember, a day to turn the page and look toward the healing that can occur, to recognize the terms that we use, as well, how we describe ourselves as people in the Northwest Territories.

One of the things we had pointed out and the tone we used was in the recognition of our aboriginal peoples, all aboriginal peoples. In the term of the day they were called Indians. We in the Northwest Territories now call them Dene, Gwich’in, Sahtu, Tlicho. There are also Inuvialuit, Inuit and Métis people. We are all affected by this; we are all a part of it.

It is something that we as the Government of the Northwest Territories felt we needed to recognize: the importance of that day in sending a message and accepting that and hoping that now the aboriginal people of the Northwest Territories can see the page turn and the door open to a journey of healing.

The memory will always be there, but we’ll also now have the memory that there was a sincere apology by the Government of Canada, by the Prime Minister, who spoke quite clearly to that. I’d like to recognize it again, and I’d like to thank Members who spoke to this in their Members’ statements in this forum.

As we know, there are times in life when we speak to issues that draw back a lot of memories, some of them not so good, and they can be emotional. To share that with the Assembly and share that with

the people of the Territories is important even in that step, so I thank Members for speaking to this.

Many of us are looking forward to the journey of moving ahead. As well, we would like to recognize the fact that the next phase of the journey is also open to people across Canada, and that is the reconciliation journey that is starting to happen and will travel across the country.

One other thing, Mr. Chairman, is the fact that those of us who are here — and we’ve heard Mr. Krutko speak to it — were able to hear that for ourselves, to hear that apology made, but there are many who were not able to hear it. Those of us who were here to hear that message can share that in our prayers for those who have left us and are in a better place. That is one of the things we get to recognize and to bring some healing to our own families in that way.

I’d like to thank Members for speaking to it, and let’s not be afraid to share.