Masi, Madam Chair. [Translation] This mandate that is in front of us today, it's a big document. We have 22 mandates listed. When we first started, we had a lot more issues than this which is not on this list, but we've been on this job for four or five months, now. We still have another three-and-a-half years, when another election will happen. This mandate is here only for three-and-a-half years, so I think we want to tackle the mandate as soon as possible. Sometimes when we talk about issues, we're always trying to find a solution to resolve our issues. When one of the Members has spoken, talked about how their constituent situation is, we want to try to help our people as soon as possible. We don't want to do any more research; we want to work on the issues right away. Madam Chair, I'm not going to say too much. All the MLAs have touched on the issues I wanted to say. We know that we all don't agree on issues, but, in order to go forward, we all need to work together. We need to respect each other and each other's words. That's the only way to go forward.
Madam Chair, if you notice, I seem to be the only one speaking in my language, but sometimes I hear a little bit of language from some of the Members, but I especially always speak in my language. This document is not translated in any of our languages. Even if I spoke in my language, they're not listening to me. As an MLA on this side of the table, I will try to speak on it as much as I can. Even though my issues are not in here, I will still talk on it. I think our language is very important. It identifies who you are. When we speak our language, they hear us and they know what we are talking about. When we talk about the Northwest Territories, we're losing a lot of our languages, especially one language group, which is Gwich'in. They are really losing their speakers. We don't have a mandate for that, so how are we to talk about it? Sometimes, we only talk about it. Nothing is listed here as a mandate for our languages. I have spoken on this. I will always speak in my language. That is most important for me. I want to put it as a mandate. In the Northwest Territories, we have 11 official languages. Within Canada, when you take a look at this, we should try to make that as strong as possible. When we look at Nunavut, their language is very strong, and you can see it in their regions. When we look at our own regions, it's like, even though we have 11 official languages, we say we have official languages, but there are not a lot of things happening with those languages. So I can't say anything beyond that, but it is my mandate to talk about the issues of my region.
A lot of my elders have said in the past that I'm speaking my constituents' words. They are the ones who have given me the mandate and the issues. They voted me in. I have to talk on their issues; it's their issues. I will not stop, so that is the reason why we are elected and we are here. We need to be aware of that, and also languages, we should try to speak our language as much as possible. Even though it's not translated in this mandate, I want to speak in my language.
We have 22 mandates, here. We know that we might not be able to complete it, but, when you take a look at this document, there are a lot of big mandates. Where is the budget for it? I don't see the budget in here for it. Sometimes we may think that it's a good idea; it's just only something that's written. We have three-and-a-half years here. Can we complete this mandate? I don't know, but maybe in another two years we're going to review the Executive, whether they did their job or not, so all the Ministers will get their evaluation. Everything that's in here, we have to try to complete it. We'll see whether they can do the job or not.
Madam Chair, as my closing, I did want to speak in my language. I wanted to increase and make my language stronger. That's the reason why I'm speaking. We do have interpreters, and even a lot of the interpreters are really advocating for languages, and Mary Rose is one of them. I'm really thankful for her and all the other interpreters who are here pushing for languages. Masi. [End of translation.]