Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am in support of this motion. I think the commission is well behind in its duties and it’s unfortunate that it’s lost all its members and has to start again. I think this motion is an opportunity for us to encourage the federal government to make sure the commission gets started sooner rather than later. I note in some of the documentation that we have relative to the way the commission is supposed to lay out that it’s intended that community events will be designed by communities and respond to the needs of the former students, their families, and those affected by the legacy.
I think the amendment to the motion encourages the federal government to allow the Territories to have far more than the one national event that’s currently scheduled. We have an awful lot of our residents who were affected by residential school and to expect them to travel to Yellowknife for one particular event is just not on, in my estimation.
I just think it’s good for us to do this. One of the other things that is in here in the documentation as well is it’s part of the commission’s responsibility to support community events designed by communities to meet their unique needs. Certainly the needs in Yellowknife are far different than they are in, say, Fort Resolution or Fort Simpson. I think we need more than just the one event.
Apart from that, I’m totally in support of the motion. It is time that the commission get started and do its work sooner rather than later.