Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada has a special relationship with Canada's Indigenous peoples, which carries with it certain responsibilities and obligations. This fiduciary relationship is complex and evolving in law, even as we speak.

Simply put, a fiduciary is a person or agency required by law to place another person's interest ahead of their own. So a "fiduciary relationship" is one in which someone in a position of trust has rights and powers they are obligated to exercise for the benefit of another.

Canada's Indigenous peoples have always held a unique legal and constitutional position. It arises from the fact that our ancestors were here living on and using the land for centuries prior to the arrival of Europeans.

Mr. Speaker, in 1763 the Royal Proclamation gave the Crown the exclusive right to negotiate the extinguishment of Aboriginal title in an effort to protect Aboriginal lands from abuses by unscrupulous settlers. In 1982, the special legal status of Canada's Indigenous peoples was constitutionally recognized and affirmed by Section 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982.

Since then, a number of significant court decisions relating to Aboriginal rights have defined in greater detail what the fiduciary relationship means and what the government should be doing to fulfill its fiduciary responsibilities.

Mr. Speaker, in any relationship, good communication is key. In respect of Indigenous peoples in the NWT, the silence of the federal government is deafening. Most elders today believe that the federal government is not living up to the spirit and intent of promises made through the signing of treaties. The elders feel that the relationship between their nation and the federal government has changed without them knowing and how it came to be.

Most First Nations communities want to meet the needs of their residents in the areas of basic housing, access to culturally appropriate healthcare, or quality education for their children, based on what they believe are treaty rights, enshrined in the Constitution of Canada. However, through the evolution and devolution of governments, somehow the fiduciary obligations and responsibilities are not being met.

Today, I call upon the Premier and his Cabinet to show the way forward in reconciling the wrongs of the past. I urge them to exert as much pressure as possible on the federal government to push Canada to live up to its fiduciary responsibility. The First Nations of the Northwest Territories deserve no less. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.