Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I get into my comments, I want to make a significant acknowledgement to the families that have gone through this process. They have suffered greatly, all of them. As much as the Members here have been involved, the family side of this has probably taken a significant beating that we will never understand and appreciate.
Mr. Speaker, many events have unfolded in such a way that I can’t imagine any of us would have foreseen the direction it would have taken and certainly brought us to. In all honesty, in the tone of this Assembly, you don’t hear enthusiasm. You hear people struggling with their words, even the six of them who wrote the initial letter to Mr. Gerrand. You can still hear the tone of struggle in the sense that this has changed the way we do business. It certainly hasn’t changed the way some people feel. I can appreciate and recognize that.
Mr. Speaker, I definitely define today is not a hallmark moment of this Assembly but the truth being is that I certainly hope this is one we can learn from and move forward on. Many people have said that they will accept the report. I certainly hope that that will be the beginning of a healing, a new day, a new way forward. From my point of view, this has been a struggle and a negative tone over the Assembly for a whole year. This tone has caused many difficulties. In leading up to the release of Mr.
Hughes’ report, I encouraged the Premier no matter what it said, I said accept the report. He said he was well positioned to accept the report no matter what way it went. Therefore, if I say stuff like that, we should be accepting the report, I see no reason why I couldn’t be committed to that. I will be voting in favour of the report.
Mr. Speaker, the public has been mixed on what has come forward. Not everyone is completely happy with what has happened here. The report is mixed in and of itself. But there are a lot of people that want to see this Assembly close this door, close this chapter and say please don’t open this door again and move forward. This issue undoubtedly has divided us. My only fear is it will continue to divide us. I just hope that those who accept the report are doing it for the right reasons. I hope those who are accepting the report are doing it because they want to. I hope those who are accepting the report do it because they think it is the right choice.
Mr. Speaker, I have said different times that these are dark days. I am very hopeful that this will be the day that we start to let the light back through the Assembly. I have come here and I have had many differences with various Members but deep down inside, I think all of us, even on the ugly days, are still great Members. I think all of us have something inspiring to provide for others, regardless of sometimes we trip over the way we do things. But I think we all provide significant value to the Assembly and to the people of the Northwest Territories.
The tone of this situation has changed the way we do business, but I think through a path of opportunity we can find ourselves again. I think through that path all we have to say to ourselves is we can believe again in each other. We can believe in what we are doing. We can believe in where we want to go, because I certainly do.
I came to this Assembly in 2003 and again in 2007 in the hope of opportunity, in the hope of great things our Assembly can do. I see the people of the North really are inspired by the stuff we can do, the stuff we can get behind, the stuff we can propel forward and say we want to move our Territory this much further forward this time. Sometimes that is not measured in miles, sometimes not even measured in metres. Sometimes it is so thin it is a slight sliver of paper that the change is so small but it can have such a profound effect. That is why people put us here. That is why I am here, because I am so excited about coming to work even on the dark days, Mr. Speaker, because I know those clouds will pass. I know opportunity will be coming before us where we can get behind the Territory from one side to the other, from large communities to small communities. I think we are all here for a
reason. I really believe in that. I look forward to what we can do.
Mr. Speaker, this cloud, I am convinced, can part today. As I said before, let’s not just close the door, let’s shut it down, lock it and pack it away, because I don’t want to see it again. This has been a lengthy process, as I have said before, but I think we can do this by setting it aside and say, no more.
Mr. Speaker, there has been a tone of reflection. I am happy to hear that. I believe the words Mr. Roland has said are true and from his heart. I think we all know what has happened here today. I think it is about time to look forward. I think that is the opportunity here, certainly not looking back, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, overwhelmingly, my constituents have told me that they would like to see us get back to work. They would like to see this not hold us down, because they know the good work we can do here. So, again, I say this chapter must be closed.
Mr. Speaker, I have gotten to know Mr. Roland very well over the years. At many times I admire the work he does and the work hopefully he can do in the future. By saying that, that does not mean I agree with the path he chose, but I still respect what he does for his work and I still do respect his commitment to his children, Mr. Speaker. That’s still very admirable.
Mr. Speaker, as I said before, I think we can learn more about ourselves here now about how we’ve dealt with this, as well as how much more we can go through in the future. The only value in this, yes, Mr. Hughes did provide some direction and suggestions and he sets the final disposition of this report, but, Mr. Speaker, I think the end value of this is the fact that the lawyers are the winners, the historians are the winners and the darn media is the winner in this scenario. No one here is this building is the winner. No one’s going to go out of this room today and be championing, yay, yay, yay. The fact is, I hope when the vote comes, it’s clear, decisive and over, because I think before us we can, again, shoot for a new beginning.
So I passionately believe in our opportunity here. I passionately believe in who we all are, every one of us here. And I passionately believe that we can finish today’s vote and move forward and speak to the tone of why we are here and start this with not just the new beginning of less than two years, but a new beginning of opportunity for us all. Mr. Speaker, may we all get back to work with the right perspective and the right tone.
I thank the constituents of Yellowknife Centre for providing me insight on the direction and their sentiments of how they feel about this issue. It doesn’t represent all of them and complete but, as I said earlier, the overwhelming number of them have said they would like to see this closed and we
move forward and on to the business of the people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.