Thank you, Madam Speaker. So first, I'd like to correct a few of the statements that the Member made in her record-setting five and a half minute Member's statement today.

She stated the Education Act had not changed in 30 years. It was changed last year, unanimously by this House; changes to the Education Act were approved. We changed in 2017, 2014, 2013, 2006, 2005, and so on. And so this is not some unprecedented change that's happening. There are always amendments to the Education Act as are required by operational realities.

She stated that Indigenous governments have been provided no details on proposed changes. They've been provided the same details I've been provided.

She said we're not working with Indigenous governments. I've had meetings. I've discussed this with the council of leaders. I've discussed this at bilateral meetings with Indigenous governments. There's meetings with education bodies and ECE occurring. And so that includes the TCSA. There's a meeting this week between ECE and Tlicho government officials.

She said I don't know what changes that we need; I don't know what changes that we want to make. What we don't have is the exact wording of the changes, and that's because we have to work with the education bodies to determine that.

She said we're making governance changing by clarifying authorities of the Minister. We are not. We're clarifying the authorities of the Minister so that the Ministers can't go and do things -- try and do things beyond their authorities.

And she stated that the two-phase approach is divisive and recalls a path driven by privilege. And I'll say that's partially right. I'm privileged to be an Indigenous person who gets to make these changes for Indigenous students. So I'll say that, Madam Speaker. I don't think we need to lose sight of that. And this Assembly as well, you know, there's a lot of Indigenous voices in this Assembly that are involved in this process. And that's why we're making these changes. And I'm not going to, you know, abandon making changes for Indigenous students just because it's unpopular. I have an opportunity to do it, and I'm going to do it.

And so in terms of the Member's direct question that she asked, why we went out with a two-phased approach, the reason is because we realized that -- and I realized, that we can't do this alone. We need to work together. We need to work with the Indigenous governments and the education bodies if we're going to revamp the Education Act. And that's what we're doing. In the meantime, I want to make some minor amendments so that things can operate more efficiently, and we can provide better services to students. And to do that, we'd have to get it done right away. Everyone here knows how the legislative process works. We have tight timelines, and we don't have the kind of timelines that would allow co-drafting. Thank you, Madam Speaker.