Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the mover of the motion, Mr. Nadli, Member for Deh Cho, for bringing forward this very important motion.

I’ll say I’ve certainly experienced good morels and I can tell you it’s always good to have good morels from time to time.

Sorry, folks, I’m here for 19 minutes, not all week.

On a serious note, it’s always good to see the government honour its commitments with First Nations and this could be a small reminder of how important that is. When you honour a small commitment, it demonstrates your ability to follow through on the big ones. We often hear about how important relationships are with First Nations. This motion speaks to the strength of that, and as I said earlier, it’s important to honour the small ones as equally as the large ones. Again, they speak to our character and other morals, by the way.

This is, as we all know, the bread basket of every economy. The NWT is no less concerned in those areas than anywhere else in Canada and certainly the world. This provides supporting mechanisms. These are small steps in helping First Nations entrepreneurs, First Nations people and even small communities get ahead by these small steps.

Mr. Speaker, what better way of putting combinations together than by putting entrepreneurial opportunities, especially with exercise and getting into the outdoors, it’s a perfect opportunity and perfect combination.

As Member Nadli said, he likens it to a traditional activity just like berry picking. This is people living their history and building on their history going forward. These traditional activities aren’t just about being Aboriginal but also about being family. We can see people getting together and away. We can see communities getting together. We can see people being people together in an important way.

I always tell my own children there are more activities out there besides video games. These are great things to do as families. Again, an important

activity we sometimes find ourselves getting away from.

This also provides business. Business means opportunities, and opportunities, as we all know, are few and far between in many of our small communities. We can always do more. This is certainly one the government can help buttress by following through on that earlier commitment that we’ve all been hearing about, about honouring our commitments and contributions and moral contracts – the other moral, by the way – with respect, but moral contracts as First Nations. Here’s an opportunity; here’s a chance for the government to step forward. This could truly be a small boon to our economy. Sure, it may not glitter like diamonds, but it will certainly fill bellies and hopefully some of that money will go into their pockets and help the families along.

I see nothing wrong with this motion about helping the everyday person in small communities, by helping them harvest these morels, because I can tell you they will go a long way.

About a year ago I went to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources and I talked to him, because after seeing a local harvester in my constituency who goes out and collects mushrooms every summer, I asked him, how do you know, and he said his family taught him on which ones to pick and which ones not to pick. He went on at length about how ideal this is, about the opportunity and how they tend to just sit there and rot away. He actually asked me about saying what does our government do to identify mushrooms, both what are good, what are safe and certainly what are economical. Well, the Minister didn’t find it in his heart and find any money whatsoever to help this initiative, because all I was asking for was that the department come forward with a bit of space on their website to identify northern mushrooms so the everyday person can get out there and harvest them on their own.

Although I am sort of sidetracking to some degree, what it does speak to is the opportunity that lies before us. Obviously, I will be supporting this motion and I want to thank Member Nadli for bringing it forward. Anything we can do in this Assembly to help small economies and small communities and Aboriginal businesspeople to get ahead, I’m 100 percent behind. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.