Norman Yakeleya

The communities, through the Aboriginal governments and other non-government agencies and volunteers, also support the veterinarians that come up from the University of Calgary along with ENR, because there’s no budget line item for this type of support they are doing, because it’s good business, it’s because you’re helping dogs, you’re helping dog owners, you’re doing a service that’s greatly appreciated by the people in Good Hope, the Wells, Colville, Deline, Tulita. And that if we have a bad year then, you know, it’s a discretionary funding.

I think if the Minister maybe within his...

Mr. Chair, I bring this up because in the activity description on 13-24 it talks about wildlife health studies. I just wanted to make the importance of fish studies in my regions, in my communities.

Mr. Chair, at one time in my life I did fish studies on the Mackenzie River and we were catching Arctic ciscoes. When we caught the Arctic ciscoes, there’s a little tag on the fish. When we were doing the studies we would take these little tags and then send them out to Vancouver for analysis and when they get the reports back these little tags on these little Arctic ciscoes, they were tagged in...

I want to ask the department a question on the support for the communities. I hope this is the department. I’ll ask a question here. It’s regarding the support the department has given, very appreciatively, to the Sahtu region on the veterinary services in my five communities. I know each year the vets come up from the University of Calgary and they help a lot of people in the Sahtu with their dogs on a number of issues. They come up almost on a long-term basis, where they seek donations from the communities in terms of accommodations, meals and support. A lot of young people are really taking...

I just have a few questions before we move on. I just want to ask the Minister has his department been keeping a close working relationship with our health department on the fish monitoring situation in the lakes in the north. I know there was an issue that was brought up some time ago with the mercury in our lakes, and the health board and the Sahtu Renewable Resource were looking at closely monitoring those lakes. When I was in Tulita just after Christmas, the Sahtu Renewable Resource Council president had some people coming in from down south to look at these lakes and monitor them. I want...

Mr. Speaker, in doing my research, in the Sahtu we did have a long-term care facility. It opened in 1991 and in 1993 it opened a long-term care facility. In 1991 it was a personal care facility. In 1993 it was a long-term care. In 1996 the facility closed in the Sahtu. I still today get inquiries as to that facility, the amount of training that people took, the amount of work and effort it took to have it in Deline in the Sahtu. I can only imagine what people in Aklavik are going through in terms of this facility. Ours in the Sahtu closed right down.

I also, in the same breath, want to say how...

I want to state again the wishes of the elders from Colville Lake on the caribou. I heard the Minister talk about the collars on the caribou. It disturbs them quite considerably. How do we monitor our wildlife?

Mr. Speaker, I understand the teacher from Colville Lake really didn’t want to come back to town. He wanted to stay out there and be a trapper. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister undertake the issue to meet with this colleague, Minister of Education, to see if this Take a Kid Trapping or Take a Kid Harvesting Program could somehow be included and part of the education in terms of solidifying this program like a trades program that some of the young people do want to become trappers? That is an honourable career choice of theirs to do something for themselves. Would the Minister sit down with the...

Thank you. I certainly know that the people probably appreciate this in our budget here. Have there also been indications where fire damage into harvesters area, a trapline area or harvesters where moose, caribou, berry picking, in plants that there are other ways to compensate people if their area has been burnt out in terms of trappers in that area? Is that something that ENR works closely with ITI in handling situations that may be quite complex?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of ITI, with this program Take a Kid Trapping, I said in my Member’s statement the value of cultural and Aboriginal programs into the schools. I want to ask the Minister of ITI if in the future the success of this program will also include the success in terms of increasing the funding so that this program can be more permanent into the educational programs in schools.

Mr. Chairman, the Minister is certainly correct. Also in the report it states warrant further investigations to the communities that are listed out. Certainly they also have communities listed for all-weather road, communities that would benefit from a district heating system. These are the communities that are favourable for economic potential for biomass initiatives. My point, Mr. Chairman, is that the communities that are on the winter road resupply that I listed off have not gotten lost in the system. Mr. Minister has indicated that there are already plans in place. Again, I am going to...