Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, being here, we -- we are not here only for us, you know. We have to keep in mind the people, especially the young children, we are here for the future generations. We have -- every decision that we make here, we have to keep the future generation in mind, the little children, the babies that are not born yet. What kind of life do we want them to live in the future, you know? I know we want something bigger, better for them, that -- and it's not just only to this legislature. It's also -- it also goes for other government as well. For example, Indigenous government. Because that's what we've been hearing a lot from our governments. And, you know, like, it's -- that's what we have to do. And when I was first campaigning in 2021, July 2021, I talked to a lot of elders, and a lot of elders have said you cannot do this alone. If you want things to move forward, you got to cooperate, you got to work together. Only one person cannot do it. This is what I heard from my elders. And some of those elders are no longer with us. Because whatever decision we make, it's going to have an impact on our people, you know, the citizens of the Northwest Territories and our constituents. So we always have to keep them in mind. But it's the elders' advice, some of the elders are no longer with us, it's still with me, and I'm still hearing it from some of the elders out in the communities, you know, when you go visit them. When I go visit them, they talk to you. And so I have to keep that in mind.

And here, I know that housing is going to improve. A lot of things, a lot of social problems, education outcome. We know that having sufficient housing that will end the homelessness, it will solve the problem. We know that. We know that for a fact. But in my riding, there's the Frank Channel bridge, you know.

I lived in Behchoko almost all my life. And we're being -- we're using bus to travel -- for nine years, I travel on the bus, school bus, from Behchoko to Edzo to get to school. And we're still doing that now. And we're travelling on that Frank Channel bridge which a lot of people are hesitant, they are scared to travel on that bridge, not knowing if it's going to collapse. They fear -- they're fearful of that thinking it's going to collapse. It's just the way that -- because of the condition that it's in. So with that in mind, you know -- so the Frank Channel bridge, it's a lifeline to Yellowknife as well and to all the mining companies. So it really needs to be upgraded, and it should have been done a long time ago. But it's in the capital project right now, so I'm happy about that.

And Whati transmission line, you know, if any of you have been to Whati, you will see a big generator in the center of town. A lot of young people, a lot of young people my age, you know, like, the older generation, they grew up with that big generator right in the center of town; it's very loud, and it's not good. So I'm very glad that, you know, they're doing the transmission line from Whati to Snare hydro which is greatly needed. And with the high cost of living and a lot of people have complained to me that they are spending lot of money paying for their electrical -- electricity. So I heard that, so that's -- you know, that's good.

And the school in Behchoko, the school in Behchoko, it was built -- Chief Jimmy Bruneau School was built in Edzo. It was not the choice of the people. It was the choice of the federal government. So what the federal government wanted to do was to relocate the people to Edzo because there's better -- they're going to build more, they're going to give us more, better services, they're going to do underground water, everything. That was their intention. And I do -- right now, I do sympathize with a lot of other communities, remote communities, where this is what the federal government did to them. And, you know, they have no choice because they make their living over there in some of the small northern communities and I'm so glad that Tlicho people did not, you know, follow the federal government request to relocate to Edzo.

So the new school that's being proposed right now, it's going to be built in Behchoko, and I'm happy about that. And I even have a little grandson, you know, and I don't think I want him to travel from Behchoko to Edzo to attend junior high and high school. Like, I would like for him -- and there's a lot of other ones too -- and I think -- because when -- once you miss the bus too -- this is another thing too is that once you miss the bus, the school bus, you're out all day. And that's how I know that a lot of our young people fail. I blame some of the education outcome on that. Because we had a lot of poor attendance, and it still is because a lot of our young people are going to school in Edzo. At the beginning of school year, we have lots, but as the year goes on our attendance drops. So I do support that, the school. Because all these job -- all these programs, these projects, capital projects, it's going to create jobs. It's going to create more training opportunity. And here, we're -- we're hearing about it from a lot of other people where we're lacking trades. And this is a good opportunity for Tlicho -- hopefully education will, you know, partner with Tlicho government to provide more programs, trades programs, bring the training to the people to the community instead of our young people going out. Because of the housing crisis, there's a lot of our young people don't want to leave. They don't want to leave our community because they don't want to reapply for housing and be on the housing waitlist. And I have some young people that are on the housing waitlist for, like, five years, and it is a shame, and we do need more houses, you know. And I know that it's something that we're not going to stop talking about, you know, and then it is one of our mandate so we're going to make sure that this government, you know, live to the mandate that we all work together to create it.

So with that in mind, that, you know -- I mean, there's lots of things that we need in our communities. You know, we -- I know that this -- the government -- not just this government but the previous one too, we send a lot of people out for treatment program. So the government is spending thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars, you know, to deal with the substance abuse, with the drugs issues. And right now, a lot of our communities are facing -- you know, are having issues. You know, we have a lot of issues in small communities related to drug issues. And drug dealers, that's a breeding ground for them because they know that a lot of our young people -- not a lot of our young people, but living in the small communities there's not too many opportunities. Unemployment rate is high. So it's like there's no hope. So it's a breeding ground for drug dealers, you know, and victimizing our vulnerable young people, especially the children. The children are experimenting with these hardcore drugs now. So that has to stop. So the thing that I don't like is that what we need -- not only in Inuvik and Yellowknife, we need more of a transitional aftercare program where -- because they spend all the money sending out our people across Canada for a treatment program. Now they need to do something about those -- you know, how can we accommodate these young people coming back? Because we all know someone in our life that has an issue with drugs or alcohol but it's not the alcohol anymore; it's a drug issue, illicit drugs that's taking over many of the small communities. So I do have issues with that. We need that.

And we need more independent living unit for many of our elders in small communities, transitional housing. And I talked to a lot of young people -- a lot of unhoused people in my region, especially in Behchoko, where they are tired of being homeless. You know, they are tired of being homeless. They want a house. They call -- you know, they want a house so that they don't have to worry about where they're going to sleep tonight or tomorrow or anything like that. So -- and education and disability -- program for children with disability and all that. So with that in mind, I will support this budget. Thank you.