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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - With each day the truth and reconciliation commission does nothing, a story is lost.

That's what Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya said Monday, when MLAs passed a motion to urge the federal government to move forward with the commission, and the territorial government to set up its own commission.

Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya sits in the legislative assembly Feb. 23, where he raised a motion urging the federal government to move ahead with the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission. - Herb Mathisen/NNSL photo

Yakeleya, who raised the motion, said elders with stories of abuse are dying while the federal commission sits stalled.

"How many elders have passed from our communities, have passed on with their stories?" he asked.

"In my community alone, I believe there were about 10, maybe eight, I should say, that have passed on."

"There are elders today that are sick. We don't know if they are going to last a day, next week, next month."

Yakeleya spoke about an 86-year-old constituent from Fort Good Hope, laid up in Stanton Territorial Hospital.

"Who is going to give that opportunity to that 86-year-old lady?" he asked.

"There are many elders who are not here today to tell their stories."

The Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission was created June 1, 2008 to allow residential school survivors to share their stories in a safe and culturally appropriate manner. It was set up to, as Yakeleya said, "create an historical account of the residential schools to help (people) heal and encourage reconciliation between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians."

However, it has been plagued by resignations and differences of opinion amongst those who were selected to run the group. The commission, which has a five-year mandate, has yet to begin meeting its mandate.

Chairman Henry LaForme resigned from the commission on Oct. 20, 2008 due to conflicts with the two other commissioners.

Earlier this year, on Jan. 30, 2009, Claudette Dumont-Smith and Jane Morley – the two remaining commissioners – also resigned.

Tu Nedhe MLA Tom Beaulieu supported the motion, and said stories like the ones his father told him as a child need to be heard.

He retold one of his father's story about a young boy attending residential school in Fort Resolution, who took a piece of bacon from the kitchen.

"When he got caught, they drove holes in the bacon, strapped it to his back, put a sign on his chest that said "I'm a thief" and he had to walk around for one week with that bacon tied to his back," he said.

"I think the people who ran residential schools at that time felt they had the right and obligation to abuse the kids that were in school."

He said his father would have been 80 if he was alive today, and said there were many in their 70s and 80s who needed the opportunity to tell their stories.

Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche amended the motion to have an NWT Truth and Reconciliation Commission established and to conduct hearings in the territory's regional centres.

The federal commission had only scheduled one stop in the NWT – Yellowknife.

"The way it's structured right now, it's not going to have the opportunity for regions and our communities and the people who live there to make a presentation in person," said Menicoche.

He said he urged the territorial commission to facilitate the federal commission by pooling together stories. He called on the territorial government to pursue federal funds to set up the organization.

Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro supported the motion.

"We have an awful lot of our residents who were affected by residential school and to expect them to travel to Yellowknife" is just not feasible, she said.

Premier Floyd Roland said he was informed by TRC facilitator Frank Iacobucci, that the new chair and commissioners would be chosen within "a matter of weeks."

He said he would pass on the recommendation to the new commission.

Cabinet abstained from voting to the motion, while all eight regular MLAs present supported it.

Yakeleya estimated 10,000 people had gone through residential schools in the NWT.

Residential schools existed in Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Hay River, Fort Simpson, Yellowknife, Fort Resolution, Inuvik, Deline and Fort Providence.