Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't want to say how old I am, but I know I was in school in 1969 here in the Northwest Territories. So if former students though, Mr. Speaker, feel that they've suffered the same abuses as those in federally-run schools, then, Mr. Speaker, they need to seek legal advice to look at any recourse that they can get through the courts. I'm not saying that abuses didn't happen. I was a student there. I seen some things. I experienced some things. But I'm not aware of any specific allegations that have come across my desk as Premier so I can't state on that. I do understand that the Member feels that the schools that were run by the GNWT after 1969 operated under the same principles as the federally-run day schools but this contention needs further examination. What I do know, Mr. Speaker, is that under legislation established through this Assembly, schools have not had their purpose as systematic assimilation of Indigenous people since the GNWT take over it. It was not about cultural genocide. It was about educating students, Mr. Speaker.
And I think the other point that needs to be made is that schools in the NWT have been operating with considerable community involvement. It's not the same way that the federal day schools or the federal residential schools were operated. So I think that having the community involvement, the different priorities of educating our students, is in itself different from the federal day schools or the residential schools. But, Mr. Speaker, again, anyone that feels that they have been abused in any school, right up to today, should seek legal advice in my opinion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.