Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am -- actually for me to come in mid term -- midway through the -- this term for the 19th Assembly is -- has been interesting so far for me as MLA for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh riding. And you know, I was -- had a chance to review some of these documents of the mandate that was put together in 2019 to 2023, and my immediate thoughts were they're very ambitious, in particular, you know, when you talk about the United Nation Declaration of Rights of Indigenous People; you know, how we're going to get there and, you know -- and I'd still like to see that through and the work is continuing on that area.

So I hit the road running, and I'm trying to catch up and understand, you know, what's been happening here and -- but you got to keep in mind too as well that, you know, as a former chief, band councillor, chairman for the impact review board, I did a lot of stuff here in the North, and I do understand how government works. And we talk about consensus government and how, you know, we're supposed to work together in trying to look for common ground and to build relationships. And at the end of the day, you know, we're trying to be accountable and transparent to our constituents in our -- here in the Northwest Territories.

You know, but when I think back about how I was involved in the communities as a tradesman and as a housing manager, and how I worked in government and later on became involved in construction management and that kind of thing, so I had a chance to sit on the national level and different levels and for DFN housing committees and etcetera, and housing's still a pretty passionate thing for us here in the Northwest Territories, and it's part of your mandate. And you know, your -- principles here, they're very important principles. And the thing is that how do we get there? And I know it's going to be talked about as well as the mandate of the Housing Corporation, how do we better bridge the gaps with Indigenous governments here in the Northwest Territories if in fact that it's been born in 1972? You know, here we are today, and we're still trying to figure out how we're going to resolve this issue of housing. And it's a huge undertaking.

But again, I said right from the beginning that I want to work with the Minister and the Premiers and the MLAs and colleagues to really trying to solve some of the issues in our community constituency, and I had no involvement in this document, but I would say that, you know -- you know, the work that was done by the 19 MLAs and the -- it's important document here. And for me is that I wanted to see how we can continue to improve the lives of our -- the people here in the Northwest Territories. And, you know, whether it be looking at fuel reduction of fuel, power subsidy.

Like in the Yukon, there's so many things that we could -- could take a look at to improve the lives of the people in our communities. And as a former chief, you know, it makes it really tough because I was on the other side. I seen the business side as the chairman for the impact review board. Now I'm here, and I -- this document that was put in front of me here is -- it's a big one that was put together by everybody here, and it's a very important document. And my question is how do we get there?

And I don't want to see, you know, some of the big ticket items fall off the table. You know, the biggest one I would say I'm in support of is the implementation of the United Nation Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, you know. The other one is settling the implement of treaty lands and resources and settle government agreements. Those are big ticket items. But, you know, for me is that we also need a strong economy here in the Northwest Territories. We need to -- it's -- I know the two years that's been happening here already is -- you know, we hit the wall with, you know, this COVID, and before COVID, and life after COVID. You know, we got to work together I guess and see how we're going to address all of these issues.

You know, and -- so I'm looking forward to move through this document and really look -- maybe help provide some input to the Premier and Cabinet, and continue to look for ways to improve the lives of our people in our communities, in particular housing is still the number 1 issue. We have to look at new ways as to how we could work with aboriginal and Indigenous governments, you know, through contribution agreements, maybe work with Ottawa so that they could continue to get money back into the communities.

At the end of the day, you know, we still need work. People are looking for jobs. Mining industry is not going to always going to be there. Oil and gas is down. So, I hear that almost every day. You know, people who need jobs, you know, so.

Anyway, so I just want to say to the Premier and the Cabinet and MLAs here, it's been a privilege and an honour to at least been here for the last month, and we're hitting the road running, and I'm trying to -- there's so many issues that I could probably talk about but this one here, I'm hoping that we go through this document and I will continue to provide input. So I just want to say that to Mr. Speaker and to the Premier and the Cabinet and my colleagues. Mahsi.