Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday in my email I got a response from the Minister of ECC regarding some caribou herd populations. I certainly was appreciative of the response. But my question, of course, that stirred the other question which was about wastage, and so I see some numbers and information, which I appreciate. My question, of course, being more specific, which is what is the department's strategy given the most recent news stories about caribou wastage? How are they dealing with this, and public education can only go so far, so they must be able to do other types of things to address these types of problems, because it seems to be a significant sin every time we hear about more caribou wastage. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of ECC.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, and I also agree that, you know, it's very troubling to see the wastage of the caribou over the past season. In 2024, we had zero instances of wastage that were reported and in 2025, we currently have 11 investigations on the go. Our strategy is, you know, we put joint communiques out over the winter, engaging with the local Indigenous governments in a collaborative effort to ensure that we were messaging respectful harvesting. We've also recently engaged with Indigenous governments across the region to have meetings throughout the summer to address some of the challenges and concerns with the wastage and disrespectful harvesting on the winter road. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was kind of hoping I'd also hear some information regarding enforcement. Now, I wouldn't be asking for the spy trade techniques from enforcement officers, you know, the James Bond hiding behind a fake tree or something. But the truth be told is there must be some fundamental issues with meat wastage. In other words, why? Is there any time spent on trying to diagnose why is this such a problem or why are people choosing this approach as opposed to treating the animal with respect or, you know, finding a way to deal with it better, I guess is what I'm trying to say, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. You know, recently, in some meetings that I've been involved, a big part of our conversation with the Indigenous leaders was about respectful harvesting and ensuring that that traditional knowledge is passed down from generation to generation and that our elders are being recognized for that valuable information and that they're passing it down to the younger hunters and, you know, using the tools within their community to communicate the importance of the caribou, how it is part of our traditions and our heritage and really focus on the importance of that message. And certainly that is also happening through the engagements out on the -- in the land, you know, as part of how our officers interact with hunters as well as ensuring that we're recognizing that traditional knowledge is a big part of how we communicate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not to sound silly in in any way -- it's serious -- which is we're not born with a gun in our hand nor with the knowledge how to use it. It's a learnt skill, whether you'd call it that or not. You're not born with a knife in your hand. Again, similar. So when you look at caribou dressing and those types of things, can the department maybe look at holding community clinics, in other words, in regions and over the summer or in the fall, of saying this is how you do these types of things, and this is -- you know, more engagement in the sense of hands on showing people because, you know, maybe folks -- I'm not here to answer all the questions; that's your job. But I can't answer all the questions in the sense of my assumption is sometimes people just don't know what to do, and some people don't care. And it's the people we want to enforce on that don't care, but some people just don't have the skills. Is there a better way to get hands on through community clinics, engaging elders, engaging wildlife officers for a better relationship? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I agree very much with what the Member said. I think that that engagement with the communities and ensuring that, you know, those traditional practices, how to properly use a gun to hunt safely, to respect the animals, how to properly, you know, deal with the -- all of the useable parts of the animal, ensuring that that -- if you're -- as a harvester aren't using those particular components that, you know, you're sharing with other members of your communities and, you know, ensuring that that's happening. And a big part of that learning effort is also there are many programs that ECC has - Take a Family on the Land, Take a Kid Trapping. There's other different programs that support community hunts, etcetera, that are resources that the community and Indigenous governments can access to provide these opportunities across the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
