Thank you, Mr. Chair. Myself, too, I would like to thank the committee and the staff for all the hard work that was put into the report. First of all, I hope it doesn’t just get put on the shelf and let the dust gather on it.
Language is so important. I mean, we have 11 official languages in the Northwest Territories and being born and raised in Tuk, it’s Inuvialuit. It’s so important. I mean, you used to be able to do traditional harvesting with your grandparents. You used to be able to understand them when they’re speaking, but now it was out of the system for the last 15 years now, but the IRC is really taking initiative on itself and putting it back into preschools and from K to 6, which I am really proud of in the Inuvialuit settlement region and Nunakput.
Saving our language and our culture is a big thing. It shouldn’t rely on just how much funding we are going to get. It’s too important. We have to take the initiative and these next steps to preserve it.
I would also like to thank all the people who showed up while we were on our community tour and who are really interested in saving and preserving the culture and our language. We do have 11 official languages, so we have a big task at hand to not only promote but to serve the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.