Thank you, Mr. Chair. The comments in the House here are well put, well presented by the speakers. The commission went throughout the Northwest Territories and talked to the people. I want to thank them for their continuous support to do what’s right for the people of the Northwest Territories with the mandate they had. It’s because of us here in the Assembly that’s given the mandate to the commission.
I want to say that the report that came back certainly poses a lot of questions to us as legislators and that the numbers and recommendations that came to us certainly challenges our opinions and our philosophy and the right type of representation to the people in the Northwest Territories. It’s almost to a point of people telling us, do we need more politicians.
That’s a very easy question for people to answer. Sometimes that’s not really fair because of the stigma politicians have in our communities in the Northwest Territories. However, when I look at the numbers here and I look at the representation and challenges ahead of us, as Mr. Dolynny has indicated, we are challenged with a court case if we leave it at status quo. Right away we know.
This land, as in my prayer this afternoon, talked about for peace and justice in our land and for the constant recognition of the dignity and aspirations of all whom we serve. That prayer talks about the people that we serve in our region, in our communities. We come from a diverse background of cultures. When I look at the recommendations and I see the potential of one culture, a nation of people that may not exist very long within our structure, in our representation, that scares me. I’m not going to support it if I have to do something to it.
When I see the overrepresentation, and I see some of them in our regions, for example in Monfwi, I see that it is plus-39 percent. I see that some of the numbers are fairly close to some of the other communities or other regions, and where they have two MLAs, I think if that’s the high number here, the numbers are pretty close. I think, is that fair? For me, as a representative of Sahtu, it is beneficial for me to go to 21 because I know in the future that I will have that discussion. Hopefully that discussion will happen.
When I look at programs and services and the financial cost to add in more MLAs, that’s a good argument, because we’re always asking for additional funds for programs and services and that’s a hard argument to counter against. Logic says yes, but are we doing any more than what we’re doing today? When you look at the budget, look at where we’re spending. There is always going to be a lack of money. So I can’t really weigh too much on that point.
When I look at in our government and our unique style of government, it’s the culture and the nation of people. Each nation of people, each culture needs to be represented in the Northwest Territories and that’s what we need to hang on to. That’s the fairness.
Just on voting turnouts in the last election, Yellowknife voter turnout was 30 to 40 percent. In the Sahtu we had only 50 percent. The other regions had 60 to 90 percent. If we have an extra MLA here in Yellowknife… The voter turnout was only 30 to 40 percent. That’s telling me something. I wanted to say that when we have a culture group or a nation group being looked at as being moved or changed, then I’m not for it. Even at 19, Mr. Bromley talks about Weledeh, Ndilo and Detah moving into Tu Nedhe. He told me that they don’t want to. We have to respect that. When I see Mr. Lafferty’s riding, Monfwi, being at 39 percent, I have
to say well, yes, it makes sense. That makes sense for me. Maybe the Sahtu will change; I don’t know. But I think we need to look at what’s keeping our uniqueness here in the Northwest Territories.
If you go by numbers, Yellowknife will always get the numbers, and it is a little bit of politics, because when you come down to votes, the numbers count. The numbers do count and the numbers count when you want to prove something.
I’m going to lean to the number of 21. I was leaning to 19, but in the report it shows that we’re going to do something that’s going to cause some disharmony amongst a nation of people. For the prayer I said “for peace and justice on our land,” – we have to remember that – “and the constant recognition of the dignity and the aspirations of those whom we serve.” I serve the Sahtu people. You serve other people in your ridings. For me the report brings out a lot of questions. The least basic fact is that we’ve got to make a decision. The commission did the best they could with the mandate they have and the number of people they saw. So I want to thank them and say that they had a very tough job.
Now the buck stops here in the Assembly, it stops with us and we have to make that decision. Thank you, Mr. Chair.