Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This morning was a beautiful day outside, and when I took my little son to school I said, look at the day, it’s Pink Day today.

It is beautiful today, even in our gallery. Thank you very much for the teachers and the parents and the children for being here. I, too, did my homework last night and early this morning. I was looking for the magic pill for, as my friend would say, bullyology. I looked through the old school of reading and listening to what the elders have that talked to me about, and I think I have the magic pill. The pill is free. It is be nice and be respectful, and that’s free.

We don’t wear pink to make a statement. We don’t wear pink to be different. We don’t wear pink to say we are here. We wear pink because we value who we are as people.

We live in a value system of life. We were taught throughout life how to deal with life, which means bullying at times. We carry these experiences throughout our life. Bullying comes in many different shapes and sizes. It comes in various forms. It comes very simply to very complex words and actions. Yet, the common denominator to bullying is the same: It hurts. It hurts people.

Have we not yet learned to accept others as we would like to be accepted, to acknowledge and respect our differences and make our mark in our life by saying thank you?

We won’t be bullied in life. Just as nature has its own laws of the land, we learn by nature. But bullying is a teacher. It teaches us to be different. It teaches us to stand up. It teaches us to say to the world, bully no more, accept us. We want to stop this bullying now.

I want to say thank you to the children, for you are our teachers by reminding us how important the value of standing up for ourselves is, and it’s not easy at times. Surely the teachers are our children and you have come to make a difference at the highest level of government in the Northwest Territories, by having us wearing pink. Real men wear pink. Thank you.