Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I know it's been a very long day. Mr. Speaker, I would like to raise an issue of my First Nations members are having with the Department of Lands regarding riverbank lands. One of those communities, and it is a very small community, is off the main highway and very seldom do people, including tourists, venture into the community.

Mr. Speaker, this probably goes for many other small communities not accessible by highway. In most instances, the river is the only mode of transportation.

Mr. Speaker, the waterways, which includes rivers, are sacred to First Nations peoples, and this provides a means to sustain their livelihood through transportation, hunting, fishing, homesteading, and a host of other activities.

Mr. Speaker, one of the known activities that First Nations people have come to enjoy, as this activity was passed down from one generation to the next and will continue into the next millennia, Mr. Speaker, those activities is having gatherings, meetings, and drum dancing. There are many known places along the riverbanks where people have built homes or cabins near a place where First Nations people have gathered, have camped, shared food, shared stories, and end the day with all night drum dancing.

Currently, First Nations have built arbors which are circular in nature and important spiritually to the people that gather within these structures, and they are built as close as possible to a riverbank to be near a river. Many First Nations people and others have grown accustomed to standing atop a riverbank and watch the river flow, which is soothing, curing, and sacred to all who live along the rivers.

There are many arbors around, including the Papal grounds in Fort Simpson, the meeting arbor at Fort Resolution, and the busiest one at the K'atl'odeeche First Nations. And they are all near a riverbank and a waterway.

Mr. Speaker, First Nations have always asserted their right to hunt, fish, and build homesteads on waterways within their homeland. Mr. Speaker, this homeland is Denendeh, land of the people.

Our First Nations people up and down the valley are struggling with a department that is newly formed, the Department of Lands, in that the Lands people, who are government employees, and are asserting their right to ownership of the lands within Denendeh.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member's statement. Mahsi.

---Unanimous consent granted.

Thank you Mr. Speaker and mahsi, colleagues.

Mr. Speaker, I could go on and on, but I think we get the picture of First Nations' ties to the land and the waterways to sustain their way of life and to practice their cultural activities.

I will have questions for the Minister of Lands at the appropriate time. Mahsi.