Students take a seat in the legislature
Derek Neary
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jan 26/01) - Being an MLA is not officially their job, not yet anyway.
But Karalyn Bonnetrouge of Fort Providence, and Malerie Hardisty of Jean Marie River, do, now have a better understanding of how it feels to be an MLA.
They were among 19 students to act as junior MLAs last week. They held a mock proceeding in the legislature in Yellowknife on Thursday.
"There's this bell, it sounds like a train, it goes off five minutes before you go in there (the Chamber)," said Bonnetrouge. "That got my heart pumping."
Standing up to make her member's statement in front of her peers, the guests in the gallery and the rolling television camera made her quite nervous initially, but she eventually began to feel comfortable, she recalled.
The students debated their own bill, which proposed raising the legal drinking age from 19 years of age to 21 years.
As a member of the Cabinet, like Nahendeh MLA Jim Antoine, Hardisty had to support the bill. She had been briefed on the issue by Antoine's staff and they helped her prepare her minister's statement, she explained.
Bonnetrouge also voted for it and she was among the majority, as it passed by two votes.
"I think there is a lot of drinking in our region," she explained. "If it turns to 21, I think more people would be able to graduate. When they're 21 they'll be more mature."
She said she had received some advice from Deh Cho MLA Michael McLeod during the drive to Yellowknife from Fort Providence earlier in the week.
"He was telling me about recognition of the gallery and he was giving me facts on the MLAs and stuff," she said.
Asked if she'd like to be an MLA in the coming years, she replied, "Some day, yeah, I'd like to get into politics."
Getting paid like an MLA would be nice too, she laughed.
Hardisty, a Grade 9 student, said she has little interest in becoming an MLA.
"It's just too busy," she said.
For Bonnetrouge, the highlight of the week-long event didn't come in the legislature, it happened in the gym. The students and MLAs formed teams to play a good-natured game of soccer. By the time it was over, some of the "senior" players were a little winded, but a few of them made a great impression too, Bonnetrouge said.
"Floyd (Roland) was in goal and he was saving all the (shots). It was amazing how he was doing that," she said. "It was a good game."
