Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I did prepare a Member's statement but I'll do it for this. This is the right time to do it.
Madam Chair, we say that this is a consensus government, and this is not how the consensus government should be operating. The consensus government that I know in my region, they work together. They collaborate; they consult, you know, on issues that might have an impact that -- you know, on its citizens. So I don't see this as a consensus government. And, yes, being an Indigenous person, you know, like, since 1763 we never -- like, I mean, we know what the government did to us, to our people, due to assimilations. They took everything from us. They took our land. They took all the resources. And they push us aside. They put us in a reserve. In the North it's a settlement. So I do have a really serious issues with trust. Should I trust them, or should I trust the federal government? And that's a lot -- that's not just me. That's the view of a lot of Indigenous people, Indigenous government, Indigenous organizations, or people that are trying to settle their land claims. So there is a lot of trust issues, and I do have trust issues too as well. So I agree with what my colleagues are saying. We do have -- they're in the small communities and especially if you live in the small communities, you will understand what we're talking about. Even the senior bureaucrats, if they live in the small communities they would understand where we're coming from. There is a lot of struggles in small communities due to -- there's lack -- like my colleague said in -- from Nunakput, you know, we don't have a lot of jobs. And that's a struggle in many of small communities, in my region as well. You seen the 2018 status report. Everything that's -- you know, like, we have a lot of people on income support. We have high rates -- our -- well, not -- we have people, young people having -- we have low rates of academic success. Our education is low. There's lots of social issues, social injustices. It's all addressed. We have people on income support. Like, we have -- I don't know what you want to say in this, but there's a lot of social issues. It's right there, it's in the stats. It's in the statistics. I don't think I should be talking about it more, but I do have lots of elders in my communities due to all those houses, just like my colleague mentioned, that were built in the '60s and '70s, well, a lot of those elders that are living in those units or some of them, even that recently built because it was poorly built, a lot of those houses elders are paying $500 for power bills.
And a lot of these elders, who are already struggling, are garnishing -- you know, the government is garnishing their pension and other -- even their income tax. So they're doing all these things that how can anybody live? It's already -- they are already struggling to make ends meet. And, you know, like, especially in my region too as well, because a lot of my people they come to Yellowknife to access services that are denied in my region. You know, and they go shopping. Everything is in Yellowknife. And now that the all-season road is opened in Whati, now those people are travelling more, you know. So it is expensive for gasoline. It is expensive. So even with the higher fuel price, you know, I know that the Minister -- there's a fuel subsidy but the income threshold is low as well. So a lot of those people who are recently retired, you know, they don't qualify for any of these program that is in place. And that's a hardship on many of these people.
And now that -- I'm just wondering, like, with the climate change and the mine, that has a -- that has a major impact on our traditional way of living. And not only that, with the restriction that's placed on caribou and the mobile zone, our residents, they have to travel long distance to go hunting and it's once a year. We used to hunt before in spring, before the restriction, and fall time. Now it's in winter. And we have -- and then it's really sad because Whati and Gameti and Wekweeti -- Wekweeti they have to travel a long ways to go hunting for caribou. In Behchoko too as well. And the gas, it is expensive, especially in the small communities like that. And there is a lot of caribou in their background, and they have to travel to across. Like, they have to go to Whati and come this way and to go towards the mine to go hunting. So that has a major impact on my people as well. They have to travel further. And the mobile zone is keep moving, you know, and so it's becoming -- it's becoming more difficult to provide for our family, especially with traditional food, especially with caribou that has sustained our people for thousands of years. And we've been here for many years. And it's because of that, because they're going hunting in tundra, the weather is unpredictable. And we had some issues.
We had two hunters; we had one resulted in fatal, one resulted in -- got stranded due to blizzard. So rescue team came in. So all these things have to be considered. And it's not -- it's -- I feel for my people. You know, and it's not right what we're doing here because it's hard -- people are already struggling as it is trying to maintain their livelihood. And now with all the hunting gear and going to tundra, a lot of them are coming back with -- maybe with no caribou, you know. And then there are some family with, you know -- and the wear and tear on their hunting equipment. So it is -- it is difficult for my people to go hunting. Yes, it would be nice if we were living somewhere else, like maybe in Delta where they can go hunting, you know. But we don't have that pleasure. We don't have that. We too much restrictions. And there's a lot of roadblocks for our -- for my people to go hunting.
And so this carbon tax that's in place, it's something that I really have to consider because I have to think about the people, and I have to think about the community government, sports, recreation, when I am making decisions because the climate change is -- I know it's going to have an impact because the Gameti and Wekweeti, they rely on the winter road, and this year it's a short operation, even for Wekweeti, so. And then -- so I have to think about those people when I am making these decisions. And it is difficult.
And then right now I have trust issues. It's something that -- it's not just now. It's something that has been happened to us for many years. So with that in mind, I think when this carbon tax -- if we have to vote, I think I am voting against it because I have to think about my people. I would like to see -- what I would like to see is that more support going to the people, not to the mines, not to mining industry, all those, you know, like, company that makes more money off our -- from our land. You know, they're taking all the resources; we know that. So I have to really think about my people when I am making this decision. So I will support -- I will not vote for this carbon tax. And I guess we just leave it up to them now. Thank you.