I don't know if you can hear me. I have a soft voice.
This is my first time publicly presenting on behalf of our band, the Sayisi Dene First Nation. I just inherited the chief negotiator's position. He passed on. We buried him two days ago here in Winnipeg.
According to one of the social workers who was involved with our relocation, the Sayisi Dene First Nation is the band treated the worst by the government in all of Canada. That's not a very good thing, but I don't want to dwell on that. What we're here for is to talk to the NWT issues.
I just want to mention that if you look at territorial borders from the past, from when Canada was first being developed, you'll see that the territorial border has been moving steadily up and steadily up and has been reduced and reduced. Our treaties were signed while we were still within the Northwest Territories' border, so we're actually territorial treaty people. My grandparents were born in the territories. My mother was born in Edehon Lake, which was in the Northwest Territories in 1931, but now that's been turned over to Nunavut. She's passed on, but there would be that question: what territory are you from? What would you answer to that? Anyway, those types of things happen.
I just want to let you know that our people have suffered enough. We're struggling to regain our territories, and if you could help us in that way, it would be appreciated.
My grandmother was a Dogrib, or part Dogrib, and my grandfather was part Nasiyu, which is an extinct tribe. They were underground dwellers. There's an island named after them at Duck Lake. It's called Battle Island. I don't know why they called it Battle Island, because it wasn't even a battle where they were killed off. But we call it Nasiyu Nughe, which means Nasiyu Island. That's where they lived underground on an esker.
I just wanted to give you a little bit of personal history and the relevance to the issues at hand. Thank you.