Michael Miltenberger

Mr. Speaker, the normal course of events where co-management boards are in a place, that is fully functioning, that is the practice. Every agreement has a caveat or clause in there that, in case of emergency or situations related to conservation and safety, the Minister has the authority to act, to be used very carefully and judiciously but it is there. In the Tlicho, the Wekeezhii process is starting up. In the Akaitcho, there is no land claim, so we have a complex situation here. The Northwest Territories Metis don’t have a settled claim either.

So we have a very complex process here, a...

Mr. Speaker, of course, we agreed we are not limiting or restricting or taking away any aboriginal right to harvest. We are just indicating there is a conservation issue and we have to adjust where we hunt to protect the herd. We believe we have the full authority when there are conservation issues that are emergency in nature, which we consider the Bathurst herd to be where the precipitous drop in numbers indicate to us that, if something isn’t done, that herd will in all probability cease to exist. That is the rationale. We have the legislation and we believe we have made the right decision...

Mr. Speaker, the reality for us as a territorial government, as Members opposite well know, many of our pieces of legislation, including the Wildlife Act, are very old and need an updating. Our Forestry Act is another act as a case in point. We are not prohibiting subsistence hunting. We are saying yes, the North Slave is a vast area where subsistence hunting is available. In this particular area in the middle, because of the particular herd that winters there, we want to protect that herd because the numbers are low, but there are other opportunities to hunt. We are fully prepared and...

Mr. Speaker, We have a number of… You can look at departmental strategic plans. You can look at the business plan. You can look at the Energy Plan that is in place along with the Greenhouse Gas Strategy, both of which are in the process of being updated to reflect the changes over the last number of years. We have, of course, the work that we’ve pulled together and offered to committee in terms of briefings on the ongoing work of the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee. Thank you.

I’ll restate my answer a little more clearly. The Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee plays that function. It’s comprised of the chair, Minister McLeod, the Premier sits on that, Minister Michael McLeod sits on it, I sit on it, and I believe Minister Robert C. McLeod sits on it as well, and we have some of the senior staff of government as we look at how do we best put into play all the resources we’ve dedicated, as well as making sure we have the appropriate planning processes to best marshal all our forces going forward. Thank you.

I would submit to the Member and to this House that, in fact, this government has a very aggressive, very positive, forward-thinking Traditional Knowledge Strategy. It’s formalized. It applies to all government. ENR has a lead role to play, but it’s involved in all the critical work we do with water, with caribou, with legislation, with education, with health. We have made, and we’re going to continue to make, a strong commitment. We’ve invested money. It’s part of our corporate mentality going forward, and it’s recognized as a very fundamental need. Our science agenda makes very, very clear...

I can point to the two workshops that were held I believe in October, here at the ski chalet, where we brought in representatives from all the stakeholders from around the lake and from some southern jurisdictions. Many of them were elder status, if we use 50 or 60 as the gauge for elder status. The information, insight, exhortation that we got was very similar to what we hear up and down the valley about the value and importance of the caribou, the need to respect the animals, the need to make sure we do the right thing so that our grandchildren and future generations are in fact able to...

The Member makes a good point. There is a wide range of numbers in terms of the harvest in the North Slave on the Bathurst; anywhere from 7,000 to 10,000 a year, depending on who you talk to. The issue is, and part of the harvest management plan is going to have to deal with the issue, the requirement for mandatory reporting from all harvesters. Right now we can tell how many outfitters there are, how many resident tags there are, but we have no clear idea except on a voluntary basis on the aboriginal harvest. So part of the ability to have a good harvest management plan is to set up a process...

Each of the diamond mines was reviewed and I’ve given approval. The issue of cumulative impact is one that has come more and more into the forefront as we look at resource development. What we’re dealing with, with the band, is a short-term period of three to four months that will get us through the hunting season and allow the longer-term process for a harvest management plan to be put into effect. It’s during that longer-term process that the work done to look at what the effects are, what are the variables that are driving the caribou numbers down have to be taken into consideration so that...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to point out one of the factors we are going to have to work around is the fact that three of the Members, Mr. Bromley being one of them, are registered as interveners and there are legal considerations as we go forward briefing MLAs and such. We honour our legal requirements in terms of access to information, treating all interveners the same and it has been pointed out to us that we have to be prepared to work around that consideration as well. You, Mr. Chairman, and Mr. Yakeleya, I believe, are registered as interveners, so it just adds another...