Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I wish to talk about bullying as well. I want to highlight and celebrate the great work being done at Mildred Hall School. Mildred Hall has been working hard to develop anti-bullying policies and procedures because they believe strongly in early intervention. At Mildred Hall they recognize that bullying doesn’t just happen at school, it also happens outside on the school grounds and on Facebook, cyber world, on the streets and in our

community. They also see that the fact is they have a role to play and to provide positive support.

They are taking many important steps and prevention measures. They proactively do outreach through educational sessions with their staff and their students. They teach kids to act. Even as bystanders, they need to report bullying to help stop and break the cycle to prevent future actions. They work hard to teach students that standing up for themselves and recognizing that self-esteem is an issue they need to be supported with. It’s not just the victim who needs self-esteem and support, the bully sometimes has self-esteem and support issues as well.

Mildred Hall works to support their students and to teach them to report their problems. They teach them that reporting a bullying incident is not being a tattle-tale or ratting out their good friend, it’s about taking real responsibility for actions that should stop.

Over a number of years at Mildred Hall, Wendy Wile should be credited for being the leader in the Peacemaker Program where she involves Grade 6, 7, and 8 students to help with their peers. They provide support for students on the playground during recess. They wear yellow vests so they can be identified. These Peacemaker students receive training. They even do presentations and skits in classrooms, because Mildred Hall recognizes peer-to-peer discussions are extremely effective.

Mildred Hall is working also with Aurora College through a partnership to identify some anti-bullying research and program class prevention, and I’d be remiss if I overlooked the fact that the community liaison officer Constable McGillivry provides great support. Mildred Hall recognizes that bullying is more than just being annoyed or bugged one day. They recognize that this is about people providing repetitive and unwanted behaviour and action. It goes on from there, but power, control and intimidation seem to always be one of the underlying issues. They work hard with their motto, which is: Responsible, Respectful, Safe.

In closing, I want to say that YK1 is working hard with its other partners such as YCS, and they view bullying as a community issue and that they are taking steps and a proactive approach, because they don’t want their students affected and they care very deeply.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to address the anti-bullying campaign. I fully support the initiatives that our schools have taken

on and our communities’ support. We must remind ourselves time and time again to keep up our work to stop bullying. It will not stop itself.

Some victims take out their pain by turning to alcohol and drugs. It can be a vicious cycle.

The more we educate our children and let them know that there’s help for them, the more they will not be afraid to step forward. When our children do step forward, they have to know that action will be taken so the bullying stops.

I recommend to my colleagues that we start talking publicly about this. We require the full support of community leaders, who must also step forward to help us in this campaign.

This is a touchy subject for many people. Many of our very own people have been bullied for most of their lives. Some were victims of bullying in residential schools. Today we will support each other and make this subject easy to talk about and easier to address.

Bullying is not just an issue in schools. We have elders who are also bullied by their own children and by community members who take from them and return nothing. Abuse of our elders is a serious issue. There have been posters, workshops and meetings about this. Awareness is building in our communities. Helplines are another way to help our children and ourselves.

We need an NWT-wide policy against bullying. All departments should be involved. I want to add that bullying is a widespread problem across the country. Half of Canadian adults say that they were bullied as children or teenagers, according to a recent poll. The NWT must be a leader in stopping bullies in their tracks.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Item 4, reports of standing and special committees. Item 5, returns to oral questions. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my very great pleasure to recognize and welcome the Grade 5 class from N.J. Macpherson School. You guys look great in your pink. Thank you so much for coming.

I have some Frame Lake constituents that I would like to recognize specifically. Maybe you guys could stand up when your name is called so we know who you are. Diana Rockwell; Elaine Cronk, and mom Carolyn Cronk is also here; Michael Elms, instigator of this event today – way to go, Michael – and his mom, Megan Holsapple; Liala Noksana; and their teacher, Carrie Heldman, also a wonderful Frame Lake resident; and last but not least I’d like

to recognize my CA, Amanda Mallon, who is hiding in the back and did lots of work to get this organized. Thank you and welcome.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is indeed a great pleasure to have young people in the House today. An extra energy to enjoy here. I’d like to recognize a couple of Weledeh residents. Miss Aurora Nind – Aurora, if you could stand up – and Miss Thea Guy.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize the young people in our gallery this afternoon. I’d also like to recognize the former MLA for Range Lake, Sandy Lee. Also I’d like to recognize a former leader, still a leader, Charlie Furlong from the Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Mr. Charlie Furlong, who is with us in the gallery, who has served as a community leader for many years in Aklavik.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a great pleasure to welcome the Grade 5 class from N.J. Macpherson located in the great riding of Kam Lake. I’d like to welcome all our young visitors to the Assembly today.

In particular I’ve got a few constituents I wanted to recognize. Sade Blondin, Brady Harbin, and Julia Bikbaeva. I also believe Aidan Drew is my constituent, as well, so I’ll recognize Aidan as well. I once again thank them for wearing pink on Anti-Bullying Day and welcome to the House.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to welcome the students here from N.J. Macpherson and thank you. You, too, look awesome in your pink today.

I’ve got some residents here from Range Lake I’d like to recognize here in the gallery. I’ve got Aidan Drew… No? How about Zach Smith? My good swimming buddy Mr. Liam Philipp. Mackenzie Pariseau, Destiny Hobbs-Stewart, Kealan Harper and Meadow Munroe. Thank you, students, for coming out today.

I have one more resident here from Range Lake who is no stranger to this House, Ms. Sandy Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to also recognize Mr. Charlie Furlong from Aklavik, and a former colleague and good friend to Judy and I, Ms. Sandy Lee.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s quite a pleasure to recognize the Grade 5 N.J. class who walked all the way here from their school. Very impressive to them getting some active living. Although recognized already, I would like to recognize Aurora Nind. She is also a resident of Yellowknife Centre. If she could stand. And Kelsey Robson. Thank you both. Thank you to your class on your great effort. You guys look fabulous today as well.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. I’d like to welcome all our visitors in the public gallery here today, that you’re taking an interest in the proceedings here today. Thank you and welcome. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to today recognize two Pages from Hay River South, Angela Roy and Kateryna Staszuk, Grade 8 students from the Ecole Boreale school in Hay River, and also the chaperone, Kateryna’s mom, Michelle Staszuk.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 7, acknowledgements. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the Christmas holidays the community of Tulita celebrated the 50th wedding anniversary of a truly

respected couple, George and Celine Campbell. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell made their vows to each other on December 29, 1961, in Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories, and the rest, as they say, is history.

I’m proud to say that our community was part of that history when the celebration took place to honour George and Celine. I want to recognize them today for their commitment to their vows and for keeping each other in their hearts. Spending half

a century in love with one person is a wonderful testament to the gift of marriage. Celebrating a golden anniversary certainly deserves recognition. Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Campbell.