Merci, Monsieur le President.
Conclusion
The committee thanks everyone who contributed their time and effort to our review of the Members’ Conduct Guidelines and associated legislation. Your feedback was of great help in our deliberations. Your specific advice as well as the spirit and intent behind it is much appreciated. Members thank Mr. Lawrence Norbert for suggesting the title of this report, which is derived from his original in Gwich’in.
Members of the committee carefully studied all submissions and the relevant experience of other jurisdictions before making the recommendations in this report. These were not easy deliberations, but all members conducted them with open minds and the best interests of the NWT at heart.
The committee believes that the Assembly’s consideration of the recommendations in this report will be a very important moment in the history of our consensus government. We recognize that many of the issues in this report are challenging, a fact that should not frighten us as legislators. This is what we were elected to do.
The work the committee has done responds to the very first motion of referral to a Standing Committee by the 18th Legislative Assembly. These issues were top-of-mind following our election. The thoughtful and constructive advice we received from the public helps to illustrate why this was the case. The committee thus felt some urgency to complete its task in sufficient time for the Assembly to implement any necessary changes during our term in office, in time for the election of the 19th Assembly. At the same time, there was a real need to enable meaningful discussion of some very complex issues. In response, the committee presented its interim report before public hearings were held and released a discussion paper featuring some key questions.
With this report, the committee has fulfilled the duty it was assigned and turns to the full Assembly to take the next steps we believe are necessary. We are asking all Members to support changes that will strengthen our consensus system of governance. We are asking all Members to break new ground in Canadian legislation to meet the needs of our northern society and legislature.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.