Michael Miltenberger

Yes, Madam Chair.

Mr. Speaker, wildlife is valued by all people in the NWT and contributes to our well-being and economy. A new Wildlife Act is needed to effectively manage wildlife in the Northwest Territories. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has prepared a draft of the proposed new Wildlife Act for public review and comment. This draft was developed with extensive input from Aboriginal organizations, wildlife renewable resource boards, residents, industry and other stakeholders.

To ensure everyone has the opportunity to provide additional input into the proposed new Wildlife Act, ENR is...

The Member referenced earlier, I think in one of his previous general comments, work being done monitoring in Fort Resolution and Fort Smith. This summer we have identified the need to do the work above and below Norman Wells to provide that same kind of monitoring. Over time, as we set up our community-based water monitoring systems, we want to be able to work with the communities and our own skilled resources to provide that assurance across the North. But for this summer there is going to be specific work done to do some of the testing that the Member has referenced. Thank you.

The Land Use and Sustainability Framework is an initiative that is being driven and handled through the Executive.

Mr. Speaker, in 1997 the governments of Canada, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan signed the Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Waters Master Agreement. When we signed, our governments agreed on the principles for co-managing the Mackenzie River Basin’s water ecosystems. We also made plans for signing bilateral agreements between each of our provinces and territories.

It took us longer than we’d planned, but we are making progress on the bilateral agreements. This follows the work that happened in the 16th Assembly to develop a Water Stewardship...

I’ll commit to have the ENR officials contact the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to get a full update on that particular issue which I will share with the Member.

There have been discussions with DFO with the community. There have been quotas put on. Especially during this time of year when the fish are running. There have been the renewable resources officers on the water more often and if they’re taken away by other fire duties, for example, we’ve in the past as well had local fish monitors making sure to check the fishing that’s going on. We’ve been making sure that all the folks that are fishing have the proper licences and making sure that the catches are within the established limits. Once again, I’ll look forward to having a more detailed...

I’ll ask the officials in ENR to take a look to see what other studies have said. Clearly the numbers don’t bear out the type of investment the Member would seem to want and the risk to public safety, I would once again submit, is greater if you’re driving the highways in the North, especially towards the southern part where there’s moose, of hitting a moose where there has clearly been fatalities that I’m aware of both in the North and in the South. Once again, the ultimate responsibility of the vehicle is under the control of the driver and the driver has every responsibility to exercise due...

The officials are listening as we speak and we’ll make sure that this information that I have before me is there for the public as well.

My understanding is if there’s an agreement for mirror legislation, that once we take it over it becomes territorial legislation. If we, in fact, end up with a process where the federal legislation stays in place and we accept the role of delegated authority from the federal legislation, then clearly the federal government would have the final say since it’s their legislation. Thank you.