Along with my colleagues, I would like to recognize that today is World Human Rights Day, which marks the conclusion of The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. After publishing the priorities of this 19th Assembly, it was pointed out by a number of my constituents that any mention of working to address violence against women was missing from the list. This is an omission that I believe this Assembly must rectify. It must be made clear that taking action to end domestic violence and gender-based violence is a priority of this Assembly.
In the throne speech last week, the federal government committed to reconciliation and responding to the calls for justice of the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. We are living in an Indigenous territory, and we work within a gender-balanced Assembly. We can and should be leading the way on ending gender-based violence. This is a difficult topic to speak about. It is a topic of actual tragedy, and, with some of the worst domestic violence rates in the country, this tragedy is taking place right now.
This is a difficult topic for me to speak about. I find the voice of men is all too often silent on fighting gender-based violence, despite men overwhelmingly being the perpetrators. This silence places an unfair burden on the victims to also be advocates for change. This silence is reinforced by a culture in which too many men and boys are discouraged from speaking with vulnerability, from admitting weakness or sadness or pain. This is a part of the narrative that needs to change. I believe we in this House must not shy away from speaking about the things that are hard to speak about, about the roots of tragedies that are still taking place and about the faults in our systems, in ourselves, and about the desperate need for change, change in a society that disproportionately harms our most vulnerable.
Much of the policy work to enact this change has already been done for us. The Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls calls for justice are addressed specifically to governments. In this report, one of the roadblocks identified was a lack of political will. I am here to say the political will exists in the Northwest Territories. This 19th Assembly is now writing its mandate. Now is the time to commit to implementing the calls for justice in collaboration with all levels of government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.