Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, land is so crucial to the Northwest Territories. Land is life for the First Peoples who have called the NWT home since time immemorial. And for a modern economy or any economy really, access to land is at its core. We have a unique land management system in the Northwest Territories that stands alone. The Member for -- the seconder of the motion, the Member for Frame Lake, brought that up only recently, and it stands to reason why. You know, what is this achieving other than unreasonable delays in accessing land that's crucial for development. This motion speaks to the need for land for affordable housing. This motion speaks to the land -- to access to land for community development. Communities cannot master their own economic futures and pilot their communities forward without access to land within their boundaries. It's impossible. And it's been this way for far too long. This is not the first time a motion like this has come before this Assembly. There were similar motions in the previous Assembly, the Assembly that I served in. I believe our longest serving Member as well has seen more than a few of these motions. So that goes back a long ways. And I know that this is a frustratingly persistent problem.
I know this Cabinet has signalled that they are taking this seriously and does want to move forward, and this motion is designed to give that some push. The pilot project that has been initiated, we would like to see it move forward, and this motion contemplates that. But it's not just a Yellowknife motion. It's a motion for all communities.
I've spoken to colleagues from other regional centres and other places where this motion would benefit, and it would be very much a benefit. I want to point out that this call to action in no way impedes upon the sovereign rights of Indigenous nations to control their own land or to negotiate their own land rights agreements, as is in the case of the Akaitcho and Deh Cho First Nations which are still unresolved. We're very sensitive to that, Mr. Speaker, and we don't want to presuppose the outcomes of those land dispositions. This is specifically speaking to public land that is not subject to interim land withdrawal that's currently within these boundaries.
Excuses in the past have been well, the GNWT might need this land for a future purpose or, you know, there might be a coming claim or something like that. We need to work in the present and set people up for the future. And we can't do that if we don't give them the land in their own backyards. So if we're going to bring, in particular, the cost of housing down and make more housing affordable, which is the number 1 priority of this Assembly, we need to pass this motion. We need to make land available to communities, and it needs to start as soon as possible.
This is also something the standing committee on Accountability and Oversight has put in their report on the main estimates, that this is something they want to -- something the committee all supports. So this motion is re-enforcing that message, that if we don't modernize our system of land management, ensure that communities have access to land so they can plan, then we will not move forward as a territory. We will not solve our housing crisis, and we will not unlock the potential economic growth in our communities, from our largest community here in Yellowknife to our smallest communities that could benefit from this, from access to their own lands. So I strongly encourage the House to support this motion, and I look forward to the coming debate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.