Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I've been at a lot of meetings about Giant Mine over the last 30 years, and certainly whenever I've been at meetings where there have been elders from the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, they've raised this issue of an apology and compensation. They've been waiting a long time for that to happen, and unfortunately some of them are no longer with us.
How do you explain to somebody who used to be able to go to the lake and take water out of it that they actually now have to pay to get safe water delivered to their house? So why is this motion before us today? I think the Giant Mine Oversight Board erased this issue in their first report, and I asked the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources in this House whether our government had a position on this, and he said, "Well, not really. We haven't thought about it very much."
This motion, I think, is an expression of our collective will, moving forward, and to get this on the federal radar. An apology and compensation is important. It's very significant, an unfinished piece of business, and this needs to be done in the spirit of reconciliation. There's nothing in legislation that would prevent another Giant Mine from happening. There are a lot of lessons that we still need to learn, and we need to implement those lessons through our post-devolution legislation.
This issue will continue to give the mining industry a black eye, but there are progressive people in the mining industry. They recognize that, and they want this issue dealt with, as well. That's what this motion is about, is helping put this issue on to the federal radar and getting this issue dealt with properly and the way that it should be. I look forward to the support of all Members of this House. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.