Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

Going back to the motion, the wording in the motion to remove me from office is surprising, Mr. Speaker. And I don't believe people in the -- like, in this House can do that. Only my constituents can do that at the polls during election.

Removal from office is overkill and unprecedented. We've had past Members in this House commit serious crimes and still retain their seats.

Sorry, I was going to continue on. Yeah, I'll retract what the -- make the referral to the adjudicator's report, and I apologize for that.

Okay, I was just waiting for the light to come on here.

You know, and Mr. Speaker, the wording in the motion removing me from the office is surprising and --

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sure, if that's the wishes of the Member, I can retract the referral to the adjudicator's report. I think that's what was mentioned. If I may, can I continue on, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. This motion is news to me. I did prepare what I'm about to say hastily and I want to say, you know, that words that were mentioned here, you know, that were referred -- that everybody's referring to were in no way, shape, or form meant to be a physical threat. And if I scared anybody, I am truly sorry from the bottom of my heart.

This has all been twisted all out of context, all of it. I am a very passionate person when it comes to my work. I'm fiery. I'm militant. If I see unjust things come happen around me, I report it. Throughout my service in public service, I have put my body and my mind in harm's way, and I'll never stop doing that.

The Member for Thebacha had a well-worded motion, and she had plenty of time to prepare and think about this, and so did some of my colleagues as well. I'm going to speak to you from the heart. I wrote a few notes. But I want to say something that really hold true, something happened recently. Like, I watched an interview with Oprah Winfrey and Adele. And Adele said something that really rung with me and I put it on my social media, you know. One thing she said is we are now living in a "gotcha culture." Everything we do or say now nowadays is watched, recorded, and judged to the nth degree. And I think with me, that's -- I think that also is applicable.

You know, we talk about prima facie here, and we always have to remember context. And so much of what I've said was just taken out of context. And again, it was never meant to intimidate anybody. That was never my intent. And people who know me personally know that I would never do anything like -- like, do hurt -- harm anybody. That's just -- I would never do that. And I want to make that clear here today.

And it appears though, like, what I said was weaponized, like used as a political tool and the RCMP became involved, and they spoke to me. And I made it clear to them as well this was not -- this was just merely a political statement and not physical. And they accepted that, and it was unfounded and we let it go, and we walked away.

But I should say that the RCMP should not be used as a political instrument. But I could see now from listening to some of the comments, I could see why I had to be spoken to, and that's -- that is fair. And again, I will say again what I said was regrettable, and I apologize for that. I wish I could take it back. I'll follow that, and I will take what consequences you have here but I believe that removal from my seat here is overkill.

It hasn't happened in any legislature in Canada or the Commonwealth as far as I can -- as I know, but I'll have to fact-check that.

And Mr. Speaker, the Member for Thebacha mentioned that this -- something along the lines that this whole thing was predetermined, and I believe it was.

You know, two weeks ago, a staff Member sent out an email to clerks across the country seeking wording on a removal or suspension from the Legislative Assembly. So there was already works in the -- there was already work underway. And I have proof of that.

And I have to say this whole process - and I'm referring to the inquiries that I've been involved with - were just blown way out of proportion. It was predetermined.

And we still have staff in this building assaulting a sitting Member, a Criminal Code offence. This has never been addressed yet. There is double standards that still go on in this building. And I have to say with this inquiry I've never felt white privilege and I felt there was racism involved with the adjudicator and the lawyer, Laprairie, Mr. Laprairie. And coming from the adjudicator, I'm going to tell you something. I'd like to say something as well --

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today, I would like to talk about the welcomed news from the NWT Housing Corporation regarding new houses set to be built within the riding of Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh and across the territories. Last week, Minister Chinna, along with MP Michael McLeod and the federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, all made a joint announcement about the allocation of funds to construct 60 new homes for several NWT communities. That's awesome.

Mr. Speaker, of those 60 housing units, 10 will be constructed within my constituency, which includes four for Lutselk'e, four for Deninu Kue, and two for Ndilo and Dettah. I am very happy to hear that these new houses will begin construction this year. I know that there are long waiting lists in all of my communities for people looking for housing, so I know that this project will help alleviate our strong housing demand.

Mr. Speaker, when I was writing this last night, I watched a show and maybe changed my Member's statement a little. I watched a show called New Amsterdam. It's a medical drama. There was this doctor, a real humanitarian, dealt with a homeless person. It is fictional, of course, but it made me really think about this. When dealing with this patient, they discovered this patient was homeless and racked up a huge amount of money to this hospital, $1 million testing, psychiatric evaluations, blood tests, you name it. It turns out, after a good visit with the doctor, this homeless person just needed a place to stay. You can't help but wonder what the unforeseen costs are for our systems, like Justice and Health and Social Services. All we need to do is just give somebody a key to go into an apartment or a home. Shelter is so important and feeling safe. It is so important for our mental health.

With this announcement, I think that we should scream this from the top of the hills here. I think this is huge, this announcement. It will take a huge bite out of our mandate items and move in that direction. It's something tangible. We sit back, and we have a healthy tension back and forth in this Chamber, but I think this is something we could really announce as a group and give people hope. I think that's so important moving forward: hope. Show the people in the Territories that we can work as a team and do some good. Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

Marsi cho, Mr. Chair. I move that the chair rise and report progress.

Marsi cho, Mr. Chair. Committee wishes to consider Committee Report 9-19(2), Report on the Chief Electoral Officer's Report on the Administration of the 2019 Territorial General Election. Marsi cho, Mr. Chair.

Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. A difficult message for my constituents today: I want to send my sincerest condolences to the communities of Deninu Kue and Detah. Sadly, in Deninu Kue, we lost two elders, Henry Calumet and Mary Beaulieu. Loss is never easy, and to lose two of our knowledge-keepers in that close together of a time period is especially tough. The funeral service for Mary will be taking place this afternoon. I wish I could have been there. I send my prayers out to the Beaulieu and Calumet families.

Mr. Speaker, sadly, we also recently lost a young man from Detah, David Sangris. His service will be taking place tomorrow afternoon at St. Patrick's church. My heartfelt condolences also go out to the family and community of Detah.

I just want to say a few words. I get a lot of calls from frustrated community members from south of the border. They can't come to a lot of these services. I really feel for them. Those are really difficult calls to make when you tell somebody, "Unfortunately, no, because of public health orders, you can't be here and properly grieve." Closure is really important, Mr. Speaker.

At the end of this pandemic when our public health orders are finished and we go back to life as we once lived it, we can have a good feast, a good drum dance, whatever culturally appropriate celebrations we have, and properly honour our loved ones that we lost during the pandemic. I give prayers out to my constituents during this time of loss. Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker.