Brendan Bell

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe the Member can provide me with more clarification by what he means by peer review. As we go out to consult with stakeholders, many, through that consultation, will have a chance to weigh in on the recommendations, discuss the potential ethicality, or lack thereof, as they see it, of some of some of the options. If he’s referring to technical experts, academics, scientists or other hunters, I am not exactly sure. But there will be a broad-based consultation on this and I think that’s what the Member is looking for. Thank you.

I certainly think that that’s a great idea and it’s one that we have used in the past to take an on-the-land program where we’ve had elders work with youth in the community, usually through the schools and usually through support from the RWED office, to take young people out trapping and make sure that they understand and learn the skills so that there’s some transfer of that traditional knowledge down to the next generation. I think that that’s certainly the way forward for this program. I think the positive sign is that there seems to be more interest in trapping. It is becoming more...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The renewable resource officers in each community are responsible for the administration of the program. They work with local trappers to ensure that they’re there to take in furs as trappers come off the traplines and then get the furs to market for those trappers, and also providing them with their advances and their bonus if the fur comes in at a level that warrants a bonus and we’re fairly certain that it will fetch a high price at market. So it’s the renewable resource officers. I’ll certainly provide contact information for the Member, but I know that at the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t think we have had a discussion about a specific forum only for the trapping industry at this point, but we have been involved in financially supporting and helping a group through our regional staff and have provided money to a group that was interested in conducting an oil and gas workshop in the region. We have been talking about prospective dates. I don’t have the latest information at my fingertips in terms of the dates that we have identified, but we are obviously providing support already to that and will continue to do so. I will pass on the thoughts...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think our most effective tools for consulting with trappers and people who use this activity for their sustenance is our renewable resource personnel in the regions and in the communities. I have had discussions in the Member’s riding on our most recent trip to Norman Wells with the regional office. They were certainly encouraged. Obviously the price of furs; this winter we have had indicated that numbers were up and things were looking good. But they have ongoing discussions with trappers in terms of discussing their needs, their thoughts on the season and the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We haven’t had any of that type of discussion because we are really not there yet. I want to give the assurance to everybody out there listening, we are not talking at this point about a reduction in tags. So I think it’s premature to start talking about what we do if the industry fails. We are not there. I want to give that assurance. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are going to sit down now and talk to the planning committee that put this document together about the next steps forward in terms of public consultation. Obviously we have had many discussions. The groups involved with the planning committee are those charged with management of the herd, but there are many more stakeholders who have an interest in the management of caribou and need to be consulted. We need to have that discussion with them prior to anything taking place in terms of changes to the plan or, as I have indicated before, adoption of the plan. None of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think one of the most important steps is to make sure communities registered as interveners in the JRPEA process and I think that that has been done. They are challenged though to have the resources to have meaningful involvement and that will be the real problem here. We also need to understand from communities exactly what their hopes and aspirations are in terms of benefits and opportunities, and we need to work that into our socioeconomic agreement negotiations with the producers. But I’ll certainly give the Member my commitment that, as lead Minister on this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly apologize to the Member; I’m not aware of the specific report that the Member is speaking to. But let me say generally that we recognize that despite the fact that we consider this development boom to be a blessing and would much rather have employment than unemployment, we recognize that there are going to be challenges for communities with this level of employment. There will be, Mr. Speaker, and we can’t deny it. There will be social impacts that need to be mitigated. It’s important that communities are able to come to the table in the EIS process...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s no short answer to this, but I do understand what the Member is talking about. In terms of communities’ ability to intervene and the environmental impact statement process for the pipeline, they are challenged. There are reams of information to sift through. I’ve been discussing that with my colleagues, most specifically with the Minister of MACA, but also with the social envelope Ministers. We had a meeting this morning to discuss some of these challenges. We are looking to provide some help and looking to come up with a framework that will have some answers...