Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to speak about the GNWT’s support for the arts and crafts in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, a number of years ago I embarked on an endeavour to collect as much northern arts and crafts that I could acquire. I particularly had an interest in garments. Being as I am a woman and I am not aboriginal, I felt it appropriate to seek the opinion of some respected chiefs in the Northwest Territories about this endeavour, because, you might notice when you go to the communities, it is not normally the women who are adorned in garments such as the one I am wearing today.
These are traditionally made by Dene women and actually are for their husbands to wear. That becomes very apparent when you go to communities such as the one where this jacket came from, which is from Mrs. Bernadette Williah of Behchoko. It was upon visits to her home where I, on numerous occasions, asked if I could try her husband Francis’s jacket on, and each time admiring it so much that it came about that she made one similar for me. It is such a great honour that she did that because it is definitely an art, and in some cases it is an art which is leaving the North. I wanted to try and get as many different styles of…