Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a few short weeks ago, 19 students from across the territories took the role of honourable Members in the 15th Youth Parliament. This is an event that is a great way to engage our youth in our unique system of consensus government, civic participation, and assist them in becoming the northern leaders of tomorrow. I would like to thank the Legislative Assembly staff that was involved in this program and the staff who worked tirelessly for months in order to make sure Youth Parliament would come together seamlessly. I can say with great confidence you succeeded beyond all expectations. Well done!
During the week, the young leaders got to see how "the sausage gets made," splitting into two different sides of the Chamber, Cabinet and Regular Members, with one temporarily filling your very honourable shoes, Mr. Speaker. They got to learn the dynamics we face while working with the consensus system through writing Members’ statements, introducing petitions and, of course, debating on motions before the House.
The subjects before them were not just softball motions, Mr. Speaker. They instead took debate on serious issues such as the legalization and regulation of cannabis and a more vigorous teaching of local Indigenous languages in our education system. Throughout it all, I had the pleasure of Paging for these young leaders and saw these debates first hand. I must say they conducted themselves in a manner far beyond their age. I have no doubt we will be seeing a few of them in the years to come as important leaders of the North and Members of this Assembly.
I must note, Mr. Speaker, the greatest honour of the week was working with the youth member for Kam Lake, Ms. Anusha Sivakumar, who showed great ability and integrity when serving the people of Kam Lake in this Youth Parliament. I was inspired by Ms. Sivakumar and expect to see her making real change for Northerners in the not-too-distant future.
Mr. Speaker, Youth Parliament is a great program put on by our Legislative Assembly. It’s exactly the kind of program we need to engage youth in order to hear their perspective on the issues of the day which, as adults, we often ignore. We have a responsibility to listen, and I can say I heard them loud and clear.
I was proud to participate in the 15th Assembly, and will be just as proud to throw on a Page’s vest for the 16th sitting of Youth Parliament. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.