Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 21/00) - The first legislative assembly of the new Northwest Territories officially got down to the business of governing Wednesday.

Greeted with none of the national and international attention lavished on the opening of the first session of Nunavut's first government, the opening of the NWT legislature was an almost exclusively Northern affair.

The session opened with a prayer from Bishop Denis Croteau. Bishop Croteau urged MLAs to govern as wisely as King Solomon, and offered each an old Irish blessing, "So when you have good days you can look at it and stay humble and when you have bad days you can look at it and gain hope."

From their place in the gallery, the Dettah Drummers followed with a drum prayer.

For the first time in the assembly's history, performers were allowed onto the chamber floor during session.

With MLAs tapping their hands to the beat on their desks, the Inuvialuit Drummers and Dancers enlivened the occasion with songs of celebration.

Tony Whitford's rival for the role of Speaker, David Krutko, then moved that the Kam Lake MLA take the Speaker's seat.

"We are a new and vibrant territory ... we are facing many critical decisions in the days and years ahead," said Whitford.

"Like all decisions in this house, getting to those decisions sometimes leads us into adversarial situations. However, we must remember to always treat each other with respect, dignity, compassion and understanding."

Whitford invited commissioner Dan Marion into the chamber to deliver the session's opening address.

Marion spoke about the significance of being the first assembly of the new NWT. He then recalled the six Sahtu residents he recently presented with the Commissioner's Award for Public Service and another, Michel Lafferty, who received the Commissioner's Award for Bravery.

Marion mentioned each by name and described the reasons each was given the award. He said they and others he has met during his short term as commissioner exemplify the national anthem phrase, "true North, strong and free."

MLAs used the portion of the meeting reserved for members statements to thank their families and supporters and congratulate the Speaker, premier and cabinet ministers on their election to office. They also made promises to serve the people of the NWT to the best of their ability.

First-time cabinet minister Jane Groenewegen asked members to have patience with her while she learned the "fine art of answering the question. In exchange, I promise not to embark on an effort to learn the fine art of answering a question while saying absolutely nothing."

The session will resume next month, but as of Wednesday a date had yet to be set.