Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Later on today we’ll be debating a motion that’s near and dear to my heart: missing and murdered Aboriginal women.

Well, today I want to draw attention to another issue: not visibly having equal access to government services from the communities. Once again the base of a two-tier system is rearing its head to the realities of our communities outside of Yellowknife when it comes to access to legal services, particularly family law.

I appreciate the answers we usually obtain from question period in this House and the respect we have amongst ourselves as Members of the 17th Legislative Assembly, but I continue to see a huge gap between services in Yellowknife and the rest of the outlying communities and regions, like the Sahtu.

We want, as Minister Beaulieu said, a more effective and efficient government. That’s great, but when it comes to justice, health and education it’s a totally different story. With justice I’m talking about family law and civil law where access to proper legal counsel is so desperately needed in our communities, but we fall short of the demand.

Some say it’s the messiest out there with some of the most expensive legal retainer fees that exist in the Northwest Territories.

Today I’ll have questions for the Minister of Justice about why my constituents and others from across the Northwest Territories are getting half of the legal services compared to those who live in Yellowknife. Why the difference? Why do our communities continue to tolerate this type of justice in the Northwest Territories? Would anyone in this House accept these types of services from our government?

As my colleague said, maybe it’s time to rethink our model of community justice in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.